


A Device for Divine

by stanku



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen, Jean-Luc Nancy, Philosophy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-03
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:39:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stanku/pseuds/stanku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story's main plot or "engine" is centered around a remote village in which mysterious disappearances have happened. Princess Celestia answers the villagers call for help by sending Twilight and Fluttershy to investigate. The style of the story, though, is more like an analytical depiction of some of the main characters in the series rather than a detective novel. The text discusses questions like "What does Celestia hide behind all the smiles she gives to her subjects?" or "What is hidden behind the curtain of Frienship that seems to work almost like an ideology in Equestria?". This may seem like a rather boring way of approaching this awesome series, although I have found that actually quite a few fans in the Internet are treating the world of Equestria a bit like I am in this fanfic. That is to say, they link political, philosophical and ethical themes to the series and discuss these in its contexts. <br/>This, of course, doesn't mean that the story can't be interesting. Indeed, this is something I have strived to achieve along with a more "deeper" analysis of Equestria.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Device for Divine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kazaah](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kazaah).



  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**A Device for Divine**

A fanfic of the series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

By Stanku

For kazaah

  
  


                         

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


A hoof hit the muddy ground, sending splashes of greenish soil everywhere. It was followed by another one, this time landing on a rock sticking from the almost liquid soil. A good hoofhold was crucial when running fast in this forest and Blue Fallow knew that, everypony she had ever known knew that. That was something they had learned as fillies; as soon as they had learned how to run, they had learned how to run on soft soil. Soil that tried to suck you into it's cold embrace at every step. It had been a fun game, back then, running from monsters of the forest, of the mire, monsters that lived only in the stories the ponies told each other.

 

She had never known that one day, she would actually have to run for her life.   

 

It was much harder, running for one's life, as her panicking mind soon found out. Every stone, root and other solid piece of hoofhold seemed smaller than before, more slippery, harder to find. It was as if she was escaping not only the monster behind her but also the forest itself. The forest that the ponies had been taught to respect, to honour, was now turning against one of it's friends, appearing uncaring and even hostile.

 

The thought had not come suddenly, but had grown, grown like a weed in the mind of pony Blue Fallow during the chase that had seemed to go on for hours. Whenever she tried to hide, the monster found her, wherever she tried to run, the monster seemed to follow. And it was getting closer, she was sure about that.

 

She was breathing like her lungs were on fire, which they might as well have been, the way they burned. Every breath was a stab to the ribs now, and even though Blue Fallow was a rather good runner, her strength had all but run out. And when it did...

 

That was the most frightening thought she had ever had. That was a thought that could make one leap through an inferno.  

 

It was the last though she had, before her right front hoof sank deeply in the green mud that could have been some solid turf. Without thinking, she tried to yank it free, an attempt she might have succeeded in, were it not for her current state of mind and lack of strength.

 

With a dreadful certainty she realized that she was stuck.

 

At which point she started shouting, mostly just words like ”help”, ”please” and ”somepony, anypony”. She screamed until she no longer could.

 

She felt detached, somehow, like the last few hours had not been real after all, as if the cold waters of the quagmire were the only thing touching her. Maybe the hours spent in chase had been mere minutes. How could they not be? She looked around, eyes seeing nothing. She had no idea where she was, even though she had lived her whole life in this forest.

 

Her whole life.

 

Was about to end.

 

Perhaps it was a good thing that she had not realized the finality of that thought before the fangs sank deep into her neck. Nonetheless, her unawareness of the finality of her situation did not stop her mindless sobbing from turning into meaningless screaming. The greenish waters could not hide the vermilion pool that was mixing in, just like the trees witnessing the scene could not show their caring towards the pony Blue Fallow.

 

And just like Fluttershy, hundreds of miles away, could not stop shaking on the floor. She had dropped from the bed, the nightmare still vivid in her eyes. It was the moonlight shining through her curtains that finally told Fluttershy she was not dreaming anymore – there had not been a moon in the nightmare she had had.

 

No moon, no stars, no light, but darkness, darkness that only let her see because it moved. There had been a shadow moving, stalking, watching. The dream was already turning into a mist, into grey smoke of which only glimpses could be recognised – and those glimpses were the ones that Fluttershy really did not want to remember.

 

She had to, though. Lying on the floor, covered in sweat and still trembling a bit, Fluttershy was convinced that the dream had been important, that it had meant something. She felt the need to know what it meant, even if that meant exposing herself to the darkness which, when she gazed at it, was gazing back at her. So she closed her eyes, right then and there on the floor, for she could feel the mist evaporating fast.

 

Into the darkness she looked and from the nothingness she saw came the teeth which she felt.  

 

Her eyes flashed the moment she heard a scream, realizing that very instant that it was her own voice. She felt the mists of the dream retreating, revealing the house she called home, the furniture and tapestry that all tried to tell her she was safe now. Somehow she could not quite believe them.

 

She slept not a bit till the morning came.

  
  


                        ***

  
  


The sound of a page turning filled the room for a moment before traveling upstairs, letting silence occupy the room once again. Somepony might regard this phrase simply as metaphorical, for what else could sayings like ”sound travelled” or ”silence occupied” mean but metaphors, poetic formulations in the midst of everyday speech. That indeed would be the case in a house lacking a magic user, especially a talented one. But when the case was not so, one could not help but notice all kinds of metaphors becoming something more than just tricks of language. In a house like that, poetics seemed to come alive, and not just in a poetical sense.

 

Twilight rarely used any silence spells while studying, for she would rather channel her energy and attention to the work at hand, but every now and then a necessity for this presented itself in one form or another. This time it was the noisy wind outside – apparently the pegasi had some kind of a drill that included storm control in an urban environment. Rainbow Dash had spent the better part of an hour describing the fine details of the operation and had even tried persuading Twilight to attend, although the prospect of getting wet and possibly deaf lost a short and not-so-close competition to the option of enjoying a book indoors. Dash had feigned being hurt, just in case it might work, but the two knew each other too well and so they had gone their separate ways, about four hours ago.

 

A wide yawn made her notice the pass of time and, along with it, the possibility of supper. Twilight called Spike, got confused for a moment, smiled in comprehension, ended the silence spell and jumped in the air because of the sound of thunder that swooped in from outside. The pegasi really had made an effort this time, she thought, while sweeping her mane from her eyes and heading to the kitchen.

 

She was welcomed by the sight of Spike hanging from the ceiling, his claws digging into the wooden roof and eyes wide open.

 

”I suppose that last lightning bolt got you too, Spike.” Twilight observed while helping her friend back to the floor.

 

”You noticed, eh? Next time, please give a heads up before turning the sound on again, ok?”

 

”How could I do that, without the sound that is?”

 

”Just write a note or something. The change just always gets me – you know dragons have better hearing than ponies.”

 

”I know, I know, I'm sorry. How are we doing in the supper department?”

 

Spike turned to face his kitchen and more precisely the oven, his face suddenly appearing slightly worried.

 

”Well”, he started, ”I thought that the best bet to try and bake a soufflé would be during a silence spell, although it seems that the timing was a few minutes off schedule.”

 

And despite the fact that she knew she was staring at her own supper-to-be, Twilight could not help but smile empathetically when she saw Spike pulling the flat soufflé out of the oven. It tasted just great anyway, and that was enough for both of them.

 

By the time they were both finished, Spike appeared to remember something.

 

“Oh, right,” he said, “we received two letters from Princess Celestia just about an hour ago.”

 

“Oh, Spike, you really should inform me at once whenever we get a letter from the Princess… I thought we had discussed this already”

 

“Yeah, I know, but you just look so cute when you read that I couldn’t bring myself to disturb you.” Spike said and smiled the smile he had for occasions where he really wanted to shine.

 

“Well, that’s real nice of you, but could I still get to see those letters now?” Twilight answered, ignoring spikes remark about her cuteness. He had begun using such more often now, Twilight could help but notice, wondering if that was a puberty of whatever dragons had when they grew to that special age. Nonetheless, she didn’t mind the change so much as she sometimes pretended to.

 

Spike, on the other hoof, seemed a bit let down that her fine moment had received no more attention, and produced a letter with the royal stamp already broken and handed it over to Twilight.   

 

She read the letter, stared at nothing for a moment, read it again and looked up to Spike, who stared back with a blank expression on his face.

 

”I know”, he said, ”It made no sense to me either.”

 

Blinking her eyes and lowering them back to the letter, Twilight read the short, cryptic text yet again.

 

To Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria

  
  


As I write this letter, already four of our fellow ponies have gone missing and I can not shake the feeling that they will not be the last ones when this message reaches Your Highness. I am well aware of the fact that turning to Your council is the ultimate measure we can take and indeed that is the very reason we, as a community, have decided to do so. We are simply outmatched by the mystery behind these disappearances.

 

The first victim, a mare called Blue Fallow, went on an errand to the nearby forest, the Forest of Shallows, and never came back. This was, as I write these words, six days ago.

 

While we searched for her, two more ponies, Raindrop and Little Pond, went missing at the same time, four days ago.

 

After this we decided to stop searching. I know how you must feel, hearing us abandoning our fellow ponies to their fate. Whatever your judgement on us shall be, it won't be harsher than what we have already imposed on ourselves. We have no defense but the necessity we faced, for it was not only the disappearances that started haunting our village.

 

The Forest has changed. I do not how, or why, but it has. We no longer feel secure walking there, not even during the day. We don’t have any unicorns here and only a few pegasi, who have done everything they can to help our lost friends, but to no avail. They dare not even fly close to the treetops anymore.

 

The latest victim, Wet Mane, disappeared only yesterday. He was last seen entering his house at dusk, yet come the morning he was gone.

 

Our sincerest hopes lie in Your help, Princess Celestia. We can not abide alone anymore, indeed I don’t know if we ever could. Send help. Send all the help you can.

 

Sincerely Yours,

 

Wet Hoof, The Mayor of Damp Town, On the Fifth Day of the Seventh Turning, Year 1002

 

Silence rang in the room and the echoes of the letter chimed in Twilight's mind, bouncing off the walls or simply floating through them. The letter was still hovering in front of her when Spike broke the spell and coughed.

 

”So... Whatcha think?” He asked, casually as ever. Twilight looked at him and frowned.

 

”They certainly are in need of help, that is safe to say. How about the other letter the Princess send?” She asked.

 

Spike presented an unopened scroll as an answer and tossed it to Twilight, who caught it mid air with a levitation spell.

 

”You opened the first but not this one?” She asked while breaking the royal seal.

 

”I wished to savour the suspension. Besides, we both know what it’s gonna say.”

   

Twilight raised an eyebrow to Spike's remark and left it at that. Somehow she too had a vague idea of the contents of Princess's letter – it turned out both of them were right, save a few exceptions.

 

”The Princess wishes me to travel to Damp Town tomorrow and investigate these... Disappearances.” Twilight said after putting the letter down. Spike smiled, content with his prediction.

 

”She also says to take Fluttershy with me, and nopony else except her. That goes for you too, Spike.”

 

”What? Why?” Spike sounded incredulous, as if it would be his right to participate on an adventure as intriguing as this.

 

”She says that Damp Town is... Kind of a rural settlement, rooted in its own ways and far away from rest of the queendom.”

 

”So? I don't mind seeing a bit of countryside.” Spike said, still confused.

 

”Yes, although the Princess thinks that the countryside might mind seeing you – they have never seen a tame dragon, it would seem. It might be unwise to upset them with something like that right now.”

 

”Tame?” Asked Spike, his voice a bit hurt by the word mostly used in the case of pets.

 

”A friendly dragon, I'm sure she means to say.” Corrected Twilight, giving special attention to the word.

 

”’Guess it makes sense. But why can only Fluttershy come along?”

 

”Princess seems to have other missions for Rainbow Dash and Applejack, as important as this one. And do you remember the fashion show that Rarity has gone on about for weeks? Well, it is taking place right now – in Canterlot. What comes to Pinkie... Let us say that Princess advised against her inclusion for a number of reasons, number one being that she is Pinkie Pie. She might be ill fit for the atmosphere in Damp Town.”

 

”I get the other three, but why drop Pinkie – she might be just the trick to get their spirits up again, don't you think?”   

 

”I don't know, Spike. Pinkie tends to overdo it, too...”

 

”Yeah, but that's the point, right? To laugh at the thing, to turn it upside down?”

 

”I don't think four disappearances have much to laugh about. I'm sure Princess knows best.” Twilight tried to sound certain, yet Spike noticed the crack in her shield. He also knew better than to press the matter further, especially when Twilight was just making her way out.

 

”I'm going to Fluttershy’s now.” She said at the door. ”Could you pack some lunch for me and her while I'm gone? Oh, and search up some books about Damp Town, too, if we have any.”

 

”Sure thing, Twilight.” Said Spike, just as the front door closed with a thud.  

  
  


                        ***

  
  


”Oh, hello Twilight.” As usual, Fluttershy had opened the door just enough for one to see a curl  of pink mane and a corner of a bright blue eye looking shyly at you, a view that was quite familiar to Twilight by now.

 

”Hello, Fluttershy. Mind If I come in? We need to talk.”

 

”Oh, right, of course you can come in.”

 

The familiar scent of a bunny, mixed with some other animals, greeted Twilight already in the hallway, along with the ever-hairy mattress. It always amazed Twilight, the way how ordinary and ordered Fluttershy's house was with all the animals living there. It was the kind of magic even Twilight could not comprehend. Nevertheless, she had not come here to talk about proper pet keeping procedures.

 

”Fluttershy, I need your help. No, the Princess and I both need your help.”

 

”Oh my. What is it? Has something happened?”

 

Rather than letting Fluttershy read about it herself, Twilight had already decided to give her a summary of the events in Damp Town. The tone of the letter had been on the sinister side, after all, and heavens knew that Fluttershy was not too keen on sinister. Combined with the necessity of her participation, the choice had been rather logical.

 

”Di-, disappearances? I don't know, Twilight, I'm not much of a detective pony...” Fluttershy's reaction was lacking enthusiasm, as expected, and Twilight was well prepared. As she had grown more fond of her friends, she could not also help but notice some patterns repeating themselves again and again in their behaviour. And if Twilight could do something right, it was reading patterns.

 

The key to Fluttershy, for example, was to encourage her to independent behaviour, to support her make the choices that you – and this was important – had previously made clear to be of essential importance for the greater good. The thing about Fluttershy, besides that she was nice, was that her self esteem worked better when she was acting for somepony else. Her potential was in her tendency for self-sacrifice and empathy that steadily pulled her towards ultimate altruism. This meant that, as long as you made sure that her actions would be of great help to somepony else, she would do anything. And be glad about it afterwards.

 

Granted, this was true about most ponies Twilight knew, to a degree about herself too, but the ”trick”, if one prefers that word, worked especially well in the case of Fluttershy. Maybe that was because she was inclined to live her life via other ponies instead.

 

Whatever composed the true mechanism that made the pony Fluttershy tick, Twilight knew how to work on it. After a ten minute talk they had agreed to meet at the railway station tomorrow morning and take the first train to Damp Town. After that they talked about how they had spent their day, about the hurricane drill going on (Twilight had barely made it to Fluttershy’s in that wind!) and other such topics that would take their minds off the journey ahead. Twilight mentioned, in polite fashion, the dark lining surrounding Fluttershy’s eyes, telling a tale of a bad night sleep. The seemingly harmless comment was reacted rather strongly, which made the following explanation somewhat suspicious in Twilight’s mind. “A nightmare, just a nightmare, nothing else” might just have cut it, were it not for the fact that Fluttershy’s eyes had not stayed a moment during the account. It obvious she didn't wish to talk about, though, so Twilight let it be, hoping that perhaps the topic would come up during the travel tomorrow. Twilight just hated having secrets denied from her, especially when they were her friend’s secrets.

 

The two ponies had a short tea time while they waited the hurricane drill outside to finish, which it did in blessedly short order. Night was starting to descend on Ponyville, wrapping the village in it’s velvet embrace. Twilight made a comment of the constellations that could be seen in this time of the year, encouraging her friend to try and spot a few before bedtime. The proposal was met with slight interest which Twilight could not help but think was covering the increasing nervousness that apparently the notion of approaching night had stirred. And as Twilight finally was out of the door, wishing better dreams for her friend, she might have sworn hearing the lock turn and click behind her. A lock that hardly remembered itself that it was there, the way how rarely it was used.   

 

That only made her remember better how well she really hated secrets.   

     

                       

***

  
  


To Twilight's surprise, Fluttershy was on the station already well before her, as it turned out. She had even bought tickets for them, although Twilight was disappointed a bit to hear that they would not arrive at their destination today. The travelling itself turned around to be somewhat more complex than she had anticipated, too.

 

”It's okay, Twilight.” Said Fluttershy, with her comforting voice. ”I asked the nice clerk inside and he said that there would be a train leaving shortly to east, which, he said, would be the right direction. We could then stop at Blue Fork, take a train to south-east, spend the night in the train and take a wagon from Owl Moor to Damp Town tomorrow morning. That's what the clerk advised, anyway.”

 

”Well, I suppose we should follow his advice, then.” Said Twilight, after a moment of contemplation. Fluttershy smiled happily in response and with that, they were on the train, watching Ponyville disappear behind.

 

They talked a lot in the train, not only because there was not much else to do but also because they tried to avoid talking of the topic they both knew they would have to talk about, eventually. They talked about trains, about the friends they had left behind, about everything and nothing. Fluttershy had left Angel to Spike's care once again, a notion Twilight used to bring up the events of Crystal Kingdom, of which they had a long talk. The topic of what they had brought along in their saddlebacks also came up – Twilight had the notes she had made about Damp Town during the night before, while Fluttershy, besides the blankets, food and other necessary supplies they both had, had brought some rare tea she had bought from the market some days ago. ”For a gift, for the Damp Towners. With the name and all, they must be in need of something warm to drink.” Twilight could not help but smile at that, especially since there was a seed of truth in Fluttershy's logic.

 

That was the way they were led to talk about Damp Town, only in general at first, of course. According to Twilight's findings, the place really was quite damp, wet and a good target for any other such word, really. The forest there, which they had named the Forest of Shallows, was the clearest example of that, for it was mostly covered waist deep in water and thus inaccessible in some parts, by hoof anyway. Apparently there had been a flood (”Oh my!”) a century or so ago, resulted by a broken damn that the first pony settlers had built. No one had died (”Thank goodness!”) but the river's run had changed dramatically and pushed right into the woods that already had been spotted with swamps and mires. So they had began calling it the Forest of Shallows.

 

The village itself had been saved from the flood, although much of the field area had been lost to it and although those recovered in a year or so, many families had to move away in the meantime due to the lack of food. They never moved back and neither did many new folk, for it was the time of  the Great Immigration, with plenty of possibilities and new settlements. Damp Town was just one name on the ever-growing map, a name many a pony gave no second glance – the place was mainly known for its mud, after all. Decades went past, and even brought a railway along, though it never seemed to reach the village surrounded by treacherous soil, the kind which sucked in wood, iron and trains, everything. There had been some talk, just a few decades ago, about draining some of the soil surrounding the village, in an attempt to finally build the railway, but Princess Celestia had deemed that as ”a project heavy in expenses and light in gain.” There had been no such talk since.

 

”That sounds sad.” Said Fluttershy, and so did she.

 

”Uhm, I'm sure the Princess had her reasons. She always does.” It was only later that Twilight realized that maybe they were not always the right reasons, although that thought was forgotten before it was even realized at all.

 

The ponies were quiet for a while, looking at the view through the window, hoping that they wouldn't have to face each other.

 

”What else did you find out about Damp Town, except that it’s wet there?” Fluttershy asked, still looking outside. There were some cows on a field that seemed to be of great interest to her.

 

”Well, there really isn't much to know, at least not things that concern the history of Equestria. Mud, mire and muck – that seems to be the general sentiment among the scholars who have even bothered to mention the place.”

 

”But surely there must be something? The village was founded over 100 years ago, right? There must be something to write about, except one stupid flood?” The disbelief in Fluttershy's voice sounded genuine and no doubt it was – the knowledge about the science of history wasn't her strongest point. Twilight decided to enlighten her friend.

 

”Well, history really isn't that much about time as it is about the events during that time, you see? The longest documentations of history have been written about the shortest moments in it, actually. Take the Battle of Cloverfield, fought in the eve of the year 488 – the battle lasted but a day, yet the result of it changed the history of Equestria all at once. Thereby we have dozens of accounts covering only the exact weather conditions that reigned that day, because even that was way more important than what happened in Damp Town during a span of 100-years.”

 

”I see...” Fluttershy said meekly, returning to the window for a last glimpse of those cows.

 

”Only relatively speaking, of course,”Twilight rushed to say, ”of course we can't in any fundamental or absolute way say that the Battle of Cloverfield was more important than whatever happened in Damp Town. I mean, the Town is still important, in its own way, you understand?”

 

”You don't have to fuss over me, Twilight. I'm just sad that no one has really cared about the Damp Towner's for such a long while.”

 

Twilight blushed a bit, thought about apologising, yet refrained from doing it, on the grounds that it would just be a way to fuss over Fluttershy more. Instead she tried a different, rather straightforward path.

 

”What do you think happened to the ponies who disappeared?” She asked.

 

Fluttershy seemed confused at first, yet said nothing for a while. When she spoke she seemed more secure than usual.

 

”I have no clue, really. I mean, ponies get lost in woods all the time, especially in woods like the Shallows, but four at once? And no sign of them, even with the whole village searching for them? That makes no sense.”

 

”That's what I thought, too,” Twilight answered, ”which leaves us no choice but to conclude that their disappearing may not be a natural one.”

 

The words made Fluttershy blink and change her position on the wooden bench.

 

”That's... Unsettling.” She said. ”Who would do a thing like that? And why?”

 

Deep inside herself, Twilight was trying to solve the question of how much she should be telling Fluttershy, of how much she could handle. She was part of this mission, yet she was also Fluttershy, a pony who was most comfortable serving tea to animals. Twilight could not help but wonder if this would have presented a problem, should Rainbow Dash or Applejack have come along instead – that was taking her into a wrong direction, though.

 

”Fluttershy”, Twilight started, with her most convincing tone, ”we must prepare ourselves for the possibility that some wicked party is behind these disappearances. Should this be the case,  my first guess would be the changelings.”

 

The last word made Fluttershy's eyes widen half an inch. That was durable, considering Twilight had prepared for an escape via the window.

 

”In such an event”, she continued, ”we would be informing Princess Celestia at once, who would then send Shining Armor and a bunch of the royal guard's finest ponies to Damp Town.” This seemed to calm Fluttershy somewhat, which presented an opening for the rest of Twilight's slightly rehearsed speech.

 

”The Princess”, she continued ”takes problems like this seriously, so seriously that she sent her two most loyal and able subjects to investigate. She believes in us, Fluttershy, and that means something – no, it means everything. And on top of that, we have each other to rely on. This means that whatever we will find in Damp Town, we will handle it.”

 

Spike had helped a bit with that one, and Twilight watched the results speak for themselves as the two ponies smiled to each other. Just then, they noticed that they were about to arrive at their station in Blue Fork.

 

They had to spent a few extra hours in there, since their train had been assigned a new destination and a schedule – apparently a lot of ponies suddenly needed to get into Canterlot, just like that. Fluttershy suspected it had something to do with the fashion festival that was going on, ”the one that Rarity went to, too”. Be that as it may, the sun was already setting when the two ponies got to their train. There they had one wagon all to themselves, bunks and all. Fluttershy decided to make good use of them as soon as the train started moving, since she had had to wake up early that morning. Some ill badger she had been treating earlier had needed attention, so she had taken it to a vet, she said.  

While she slept, Twilight wondered at the rippling sunset through the window, thinking. She could not shake the feeling that she didn’t see the big picture here. It felt that she did not fit the story she was about to enter, a feeling she had not felt before, not at least since her fillyhood. This mission was not her usual bread and butter, but still she had been invited to participate – could it mean there was a meaning for her in all this that she wasn’t aware of yet? The fact that this thought was nagging at her a bit was actually dwarfed by the annoyance caused by her inability to stop it. This was not the first time she felt bad about feeling bad, which, as an observation, did nothing to help her mood.

The train kept traveling smoothly as a dream, the mechanical sounds mixing with the creaking of wooden benches, the slight rattling of the windows and the breathing of Fluttershy above Twilight’s bunk. Whatever her meaning in all this would be, Twilight concluded, before the surrounding symphony lulled her into sleep, she wasn’t looking forward to it yet. She didn’t dream that night, but woke up twice instead, because Fluttershy, apparently, was. She seemed to be tumbling all over her bunk, which was right atop Twilight’s. That made her remember the nightmares Fluttershy had told her about, which made her feel weird inside - it was strange to think that the pony just above you might be scared silly and there was nothing you could do to comfort her. She thought about waking her up, just at the moment when she stopped thrashing about, and in fact stopped making any sounds at all.  

The following silence was perhaps even more disturbing than the noise preceding it.

 

On the other hoof, Twilight reasoned after a while, it had only been a nightmare. Ponies had nightmares all the time and, considering the nervous character of Fluttershy and the unusual situation they were in, it was more than expected for her to have one. Anyway, it was over now,  and that left Twilight with not much else to do but close her eyes, and hope that the bad dreams would have only one victim that night.

 

She was not aware that, above her, Fluttershy was staring eyes wide open at the window opposite her. The window revealed nothing but endless darkness beyond.

 

                        ***

 

Their next morning was spent in an attempt to find a coach that would take them to Damp Town. As it happened, though, no such thing had existed for years and years. Local ponies rarely traveled  distances over ten miles out of their homes, mainly because there weren’t very many reasons to. They had everything they needed right where they wanted things to be: As close as possible. Any mail they sent or received was handled by the few pegasi that inhabited the area. This meant, that for earth ponies, the need to travel farther than their hooves could carry them, was almost nonexistent. However, there happened to be a single suitable coach in the village for Twilight and Fluttershy. The owner of the aforementioned vehicle, a middle-aged stallion called simply Thick Mane, wasn’t so enthusiastic to borrow it, let alone employ some of his farmhooves to pull the thing. They were all awfully busy, he assured, although his opinion on the matter changed suddenly upon hearing that his customers were on a queenly errand. And just like that, the two friends were on their way to Damp Town.              

 

The ride proved even less luxurious than Twilight had anticipated, for the roads around here were not made to carry passengers in a hurry. At least the two young stallions who were pulling them proved to be merrier company, which helped Twilight to forget the bumpy ride. The stallions introduced themselves as brothers, although Twilight found little similarity in their appearances, a fact she mentioned right away. It turned out they were actually half-brothers, a statement that quickly lead to a conversation during which Twilight came to learn almost the full life story of the families Hillmane and Barrowside. It was “very enlightening”, Twilight commented, getting right away to explain what “enlightening” meant.

 

Fluttershy stayed quiet most of the journey, even though most of the two brothers’ attention was directed at her, and Twilight was annoyingly aware of that. Despite being the center of the male attention, Fluttershy seemed even more timid than usual, and tired too, as if she hadn’t slept enough. Twilight remembered the nightmare her friend had had last night in the train, and tried to bring up the topic whenever the brothers’ attention was focused elsewhere, yet the only answer she received was all too similar with the one the brothers received: avoiding, short and blunt. She finally gave up and let Fluttershy sulk in peace.

 

The ride came to a sudden halt like the two brothers had warned it would. They had said that the road to Damp Town was like a wet woolly sock: You could get your hoof in, even your ankle if you tried, but getting the whole way felt simply too nasty. At least with a loaded coach it was. The mud was too deep, too persistent, for any pony-made vehicle to get through smoothly, and instead everyone got stuck already two miles away from the village of Damp Town. And they were now three miles from it, which, the brothers stated, was their limit. As Twilight watched them leave, she could not help but think that, had Fluttershy answered their eager attention with anything more pleasant than mere mumbling, they would have gladly carried them the rest of the way. But that was a thought more motivated by petty jealousy than actual disappointment.              

 

The track they ended up following proved to be as narrow and muddy as promised, which ensured that the whole afternoon of the two ponies was enriched by the sucking sound of hooves tearing free from mud. Twilight was learning by first hoof experience why Damp Town had stayed as remote as it was. No railway connection, no road to speak of, no particular geopolitical significance. All there had been, so far, was mud, mire and muck, in all gooey varieties.

 

Fluttershy was doing just fine, of course, being a pegasus and all. The sound of the beating of her wings signaled Twilight that she was returning from the sky, where she had been scouting.

 

”Well, how far is it?” Asked Twilight, eager to leave the almost liquid track behind. Fluttershy looked uneasy, which Twilight thought was a sign of her friend's characteristically illogical empathy – it was not her fault she was born with wings and Twilight wasn’t. Yet it still seemed to bother Fluttershy that she could do little to prevent her friend from getting muddy.

 

”I'm sorry, but the vegetation is just too dense, I can't see a thing.”

 

”Can't you ask some bird to lead the way or something?”

 

”Uhm, I would, but... There seems to be none around. I noticed that earlier, too, but I thought they were just shy of us. That's weird, right?”

 

”I wouldn't know, would I? I'm not a bird.” The mud was really getting on Twilight's nerves, which made her tone a tad sharper than she actually meant it to be. She might have not noticed it herself, but Fluttershy was quite sensitive for that sort of thing. Immediately Twilight felt bad for both of them.

 

”I'm sorry, Fluttershy. This mud is just getting the best of me, it seems. Let's just try to get to the village, right? I'm sure we will see plenty of wildlife later.”

 

They continued the rest of the journey in silence, never once seeing a bird or any other animal on the way, though Fluttershy spotted plenty of nests and burrows, all empty. Needless to say, none of this relieved her restlessness. Twilight began to seriously consider turning back, but then they saw the village gate looming ahead.

 

The gate was craftily built of stone and had probably stood there since the village had been founded – one could tell just by seeing the thick layer of moss growing on it. The greenish growth covered the whole thing, except the top arch of the gate, where it simply read: ”Damp Town”. The two ponies stood there for a moment, as if wanting something to happen before entering the village.

 

The village was close to what Twilight had expected: Old but well kept cottages, made of hay and wood and caulked with what appeared to be moss. The buildings, all one-storeyed, edged the road to the village's centre, where there stood a town hall of sorts. Painted bright red and its roof covered in vegetation, it looked more like a barn to Twilight, although the beautiful writing (giving the building its name) saved the whole somewhat. Truly, a rather ordinary village and a rather ordinary location.

 

Except, there was nopony around.

 

”What is this, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked after a while, quietly, as if trying not to disturb anything, especially not the balance in herself.

 

Twilight didn’t know what to say. Thoughts were running wild in her mind but none of them could connect, instead they were bumping uselessly against the walls of her head that seemed to be closing in more and more every second. Suddenly she remembered the unsteady feeling she had had last night, the feeling of not belonging. She felt like a bird who had forgotten how to fly.   

 

”We should... Search the area.” Twilight said, following the example of Fluttershy and lowering her  voice. Something was definitely going on here and Twilight was not going to disturb it, not before she knew exactly what it was.

 

”Search for... What, Twilight? What are we supposed to search for? There's nopony here.”

 

”We don't know that, Fluttershy. They might be hiding – they're upset remember? They might have heard us coming and thought we meant them harm.” Suddenly she felt a strong urge to shout, to break the spell of silence they had cast on themselves. Without thinking about it, she shouted at the empty centre, shouted ”for anypony here, for anypony at all”, succeeding in nothing else but scaring Fluttershy.

 

”Right...”, started Twilight after they had both calmed down, ”It seems that you're correct, unfortunately. That still leaves us no other choice but to search for... Something, you understand? There must be something in here that explains this, this, this emptiness. There must be something that makes sense here.”

 

”Okay, Twilight.” Said Fluttershy meekly. She thought something and then added: ”But let's not split up, okay?”

 

On that, Twilight could not agree more.  

 

Later that evening, when the two ponies had settled in one of the empty houses near the town hall, Twilight assured her increasingly anxious friend that everything would turn out better on the morrow. Maybe the local ponies had some great festival somewhere out of the village, some market or something. If  all the studies Twilight had ever done had but one message, it would have been that there was a reason for everything. There was always something. And even if their searching  had not produced any results save some abandoned food and an empty feeling, they would continue tomorrow. Fluttershy listened, thought about it and believed in her friends words, even if they were just words and believing in them only meant believing in herself. She smiled before the pillows got the better of her.

 

Twilight, on the other hoof, could not stop thinking about that something that always was there. The theory about a large scale festival on the outskirts of the village seemed like the most reasonable explanation, and that was the thing that kept her awake – it wasn't all that reasonable, in and on itself. It would have to do for now, though, for both of them. It would not do to become paranoid in the middle of a quest assigned by Princess Celestia herself.

 

Finally, sleep came to Twilight too, though the dreams were all on Fluttershy again – Twilight could tell, for the noise Fluttershy's hooves made when scraping on the wooden floor.

 

It seemed like she was running, in her dreams. For something, or from something, Twilight could not say. She wondered if she was seeing nightmares again, the poor thing. Maybe she would have asked in the morning, had she remembered to and were it not for the fact that, come the morning, Fluttershy was gone.

 

This is bad, Twilight thought, really bad. It was almost bad enough to make Twilight paranoid, almost enough to – no, that wouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen. She had to get a grip, find a meaning, find something, anything. But the bird was falling, accelerating at every second, and those stupid feathery things on her sides only seemed to drag her down faster. The bird was falling, Twilight could see it hit the ground at any moment, could feel that, for she was the bird, the bird was her, and her logic and reasons were the wings that wouldn’t work.

 

She hit the ground hard. In her panic, she had tripped on some root sprouting from the ground. She kicked at it, once, twice, thrice, kicked and stomped until the root was nothing but splinters spread on the grass. Twilight breathed heavily, her eyes clouded with tears, and fell beside the splinters.

 

She didn’t know how long she had been laying there, helpless as the root she had demolished. There was no reason, no logic, no hope. And more importantly, there was nopony else than her, Twilight, no Fluttershy. No Fluttershy. No Fluttershy. No... Fluttershy...

 

No. Fluttershy.

 

No.

 

No.

 

That would not do.

 

She rose beside the splinters, rose like a bird with wings spread wide. She had fallen, but that was the only way to get up again, right? You couldn’t fall from the bottom. That was logic, that was reason. Those were her wings.

 

She would not fall again. There wasn’t anything more illogical than a falling bird.

 

She started for the cottage they had spent the night in, galloping, her mind set on this one question only: Where is Fluttershy?

 

She searched the room they had slept in, looking for anything unordinary, for anything suspicious. She used her magic, to spot any strange hoofprints on the dusty floors, on the walls, on the ceiling. She tried all the tricks she knew, in every four rooms of the cottage, on the surroundings, in the houses next door.

 

She found nothing.

 

Suddenly a feeling of weakness got hold of her, a feeling of not only creeping desperation but also  hunger as well. She realized she hadn’t yet eaten that day, and the sun was already past its zenith. In need of nourishment but unwilling to stop searching, Twilight felt like she was going to lose balance again.

 

No.

 

She needed to eat, otherwise she would only weaken herself – so she ate what little lunch she had left in her saddlebag (she did not eat Fluttershy's food, it was meant for Fluttershy, she would  be hungry when Twilight would find her).

 

While she ate, her mind relaxed a bit, for the body was doing something it knew how to do without supervision. Soon a process started taking place, a kind of mechanism she had developed during all the years of studying she had gone through. Things started to organize themselves, facts separated themselves from mere beliefs and impressions. A pattern began to emerge from where there only had been chaos.            

 

Fact one: Fluttershy would not have gone away on her own initiative, not without telling Twilight about it.

 

Fact two: Fluttershy's disappearing must be connected to whatever happened to the villagers. No other explanation made any sense.

 

Conclusion: By finding out what happened to the villagers, she could find Fluttershy.

 

It later turned out that none of the facts Twilight came up with that day had been correct, although at the time they fulfilled their purpose just fine. The purpose of being able to take action, any action.

 

She began thinking, thinking about everything that had happened since she and Fluttershy had left  Ponyville. She thought about the letter the mayor of Damp Town had sent, read it again a couple times, too, for she had brought it along. She pondered the random facts of history she had learned about Damp Town, trying to recall anything of use, anything at all. She needed clues, a hint from the direction she should go. She felt like being in a maze, in a riddle or in a forest she didn’t know, seeking a way out but finding only dead ends. It was an awful feeling, running into a dead end in one's own mind.

 

She began travelling unfamiliar paths, even making paths of her own, paths that seemed to go nowhere. Questions large as mountains or glaciers blocked her progress with their weight, haunting her wherever she went. Should she seek help from Owlmoor? What could she tell them, what could they do that she couldn't? Perhaps she ought to press into the forest, to continue searching there? But she didn’t know these woods, and according to her knowledge, they were filled with mires and swamps, just waiting an opportunity to prey on ponies that knew no better. She could... But then again... She might... On the other hoof... There might be... No, that sounded awful...

 

She did not know what to do.

 

Until she remembered the story. It had been mentioned in one of the books about Damp Town she had gone though, barely a side note, really, but that was all she got.

 

There had been talk of a Witch.

 

A Witch that had supposedly lived in the Forest of Shallows long before the ponies that came to live there came up with that name. In truth, nopony had ever seen this creature they had named as the Witch, though something had given them the incentive to think that everything wasn’t like it should be in the Shallows. The note had talked about... Anomalies. Strange phenomena that couldn’t be ascertained to actually have happened. There were stories like that all over Equestria, bits of local folklore that ponies had always loved to tell each other and still did. Mainstream scholars gave little thought to them, hardly even recording them most of the time, but a scholar named Greystone had deemed this one story worth writing about, for the sake of it's nature.

 

The story had been a rather sinister one, he had said. Apparently there had been some problems with the first Damp Towners’ animals, especially with their dogs. There had been accounts of strange behaviour, fights, aggressive behaviour and so on. The canine creatures that had acted so nicely throughout their lives suddenly became more aggressive after settling into Damp Town, and nopony knew why.

 

One of the dogs had even attacked a pony, although no serious physical harm had been suffered. Still, rumours started spreading. Rumours of dark magic, of sorcery, of bewitching. And if there was bewitching, there had to be a witch, right?

 

Not much else was known for certain, because as time went by, the story, like all stories, had started to live a life of its own. It got mixed with other myths and legends, had taken place elsewhere, had not ever happened. Greystone had been thorough enough to dig through the layers of myths to find this one account he regarded as the original incident, based more or less on truth. Twilight had read all this and forgotten it almost instantly, deeming any individual, who would believe in such stories, as seriously paranoid.

 

Until the forgotten story came back to her, in a deserted village, with her best friend missing and with the symphony of silence ringing more sinister than ever in her ears. Even the birds remained silent.

 

One could get really paranoid in an atmosphere like that.

  
  


                        ***

  
  


Overwhelmed by both disgust and horror, Fluttershy fought the urge to flee the scene. She had never before in her life encountered anything like it: The mess made by the butchery, the sight of broken bones sticking from the carcass and sinews shred to pieces, the smell of blood... It was not from this world. Could not be. Yet, in the midst of the panic she sought to quench, she knew that those things were not only from this world but in fact from its very essence. They were what things were made of, living things at least. The problem was, they were not supposed to be seen like this. Definitely not.

 

Not like this – that was the only thought Fluttershy would later remember, although to explain how it eventually channeled itself into action was a mystery to her. Something changed in her on that day, something that she hadn’t known was there to begin with. Yet now that it was gone, she could definitely feel its absence, whatever it had been.

 

It was the silence that finally told her that only loneliness was surrounding her. The feeling of abandonment she experienced then made her remember her friend, Twilight. She still felt bad about leaving her friend behind like that, but there was no helping that now. It had to be done, Fluttershy knew that, although she still couldn’t think of a way to explain that to Twilight when they would meet again.

 

When they would meet again...

 

Fluttershy hoped that would be soon.

 

All her basic instincts screamed a warning through her spine at the thought of approaching the... Thing in front of her. Still, the rational part of her mind reasoned that there might be a clue there, a clue about what had happened here. The thing was dead, after all, what was there to be afraid of, then?

 

The fact, for instance, that the death had certainly not been a natural one.

 

”The thing” proved to be a female deer, or at least it once had been. Something had torn a hole in the place where the animal's throat should have been, and proceeded to feast on the flesh of the belly. Fluttershy was no expert in butchery or in carnivorous habits, being one of vegetarian race herself, but even she could recognize teeth marks this prominent. Finally, the sight of a large beetle running from the deer's mouth made Fluttershy retch, but not before she had made a few essential conclusions about the carcass.

 

Firstly, she had definitely never seen anything like this been done to another living being.

 

Secondly, the thing that had done this unspeakable deed, had done it to feed. And since there was still quite a lot of… meat… left in the carcass, it would probably return to finish its meal in the near future.

 

Thirdly, she would have to face that creature when it returned, regardless of the consequences.

 

Being unable to stand the presence of the carcass any longer, Fluttershy moved quickly away from it, though not so far as to lose sight of it. She knew little and less of dead animals, preferring the company of living ones, yet she guessed that the corpse could be no older than some hours, less than a day for sure. Perhaps the hunt had taken place during the previous night - that was the time deers liked to move around, as did their predators, it seemed.

 

The dream she had had last night supported that theory, at least.

 

Fluttershy detached herself from the soft ground and flew on a branch that could accommodate her weight and support her enough so she could relax a bit. She was really tired after all, having slept none during the previous night and the day was past midday already. It wasn’t the most comfortable tree she had spent time in, but it would have to do, for trees weren’t as hospitable here as they were in Ponyville. To say it plainly, not much of the nature here was like it was anywhere Fluttershy had ever seen.

 

Take the water, for example. One could certainly drink it, but would have to prepare to be quite sick afterwards - it was practically the same as to eat some of the soil. Actually, the water was the soil around here and vice versa. The whole forest floor was practically underwater, although it was spotted with some peat hummocks that provided some solid ground. The hummocks varied a lot in size, though: On some, one could build a house, while some were barely visible from under the water. Drowning was a serious concern, for there were places where the water deepened without warning and only Celestia knew how deep it went. Fluttershy suspected that those sinkholes were places where a great tree had died and decayed on the spot, leaving only a hole dug by its roots behind. The trees certainly had to dig their roots deep into the soil here, simply to keep from floating away. Or perhaps the hole had already been there before the flood, for whatever reason  holes existed.     

 

Be that as it may, Fluttershy was more concerned about her friend than the ecological history of the forest. She really hoped Twilight wouldn’t try to follow her, but would instead do what anypony in their right mind would do and get help, which should give Fluttershy enough time to finish her business here. In any case, Twilight should be forced to stay out of the Forest of the Shallows, for the aforementioned reasons and because of her lack of wings. The terrain was somewhat accessible near the village, but turned quickly into the waist deep nightmare it was here, where Fluttershy had found the deer. The peat hummock the animal had been laying on was half covered in blood and organs, which at least had made it easier to spot. The smell had given the place away from far off. But even then Fluttershy had had to spent most of the night searching the place, for the animals she had tried to ask directions were either too scared to talk, or wouldn’t even listen to her. Using the Stare she had finally found a bird that had chirped a more useful piece of information than what the average fauna around had had to offer.

 

It was right around that moment, when Fluttershy thought about the possibility of Twilight using a teleport spell to advance deeper into the woods, when her thought process froze. She could hear the soft sound of tiny waves, could see the green calm waters turning into symmetrical rings beneath her.

 

Something was swimming in the water.

 

Fluttershy stopped breathing but that didn't stop her heart from beating loud as a drum. She felt cold shivers moving up her spine and into her soul, could feel the natural instinct telling her to run, to fly away, to get farther from the thing that was coming closer every second. She could feel the prey in her waking up.

 

That must have been what the deer felt like, right before those teeth sank to her flesh.

 

Suddenly she could smell the approaching creature, too. Strangely enough, it smelled like… A dog?

It smelled like a wet dog. But that was… Impossible…

 

Dogs didn't eat deer.

 

And then she saw it.

 

It was watching her.

 

Fluttershy had never dreamed that she would flinch from a look given to her by an animal.

 

She also never dreamed of the speed with which such a large animal could leap from water and ram itself against a tree.

 

She had just enough time to scream before hitting the water.

  
  


                        ***

 

The page worn by age couldn’t handle the sudden motion Twilight made and simply ripped off, pushing her tensed mood over the edge. She flung the book with her hoof into the pile with the rest, where it thumped softly before sliding onto the dusty floor. Twilight watched it like expecting it to fight back, hoping that it would, so she could decimate it with a spell or simply tear it up with her bare hooves.

 

That was the first time she had ever thought about destroying a book.

 

With an exhausted and frustrated sigh, Twilight slowly sank to the floor along with the aged papers that covered it like a carpet. She had been searching through the Town Hall’s library for hours, yet had not found anything of note save some songs and drawings made by some filly or colt. They were the only references to the Witch she could find.

 

For whatever reason, the Damp Towners had stored all their written material to a cellar. The wooden walls did little to stop the humidity seeping in, mildewing everything it touched, including the few pieces of furniture the cellar had to offer. Light would also have been an issue, but that at least was a problem Twilight had solved without much difficulty with her horn.  

 

It made no matter though, for every book or pile of paper she had gone through had either crumbled at her touch or revealed nothing of interest. If anypony had ever studied the case of the Witch in Damp Town, the account was most likely gone by now, along with Twilight’s only potential clue.

 

The thought twisted her belly to knots.      

 

She had hoped there would be something in the library, even though it was small and poorly kept. She had hoped for a clue, for a reliable account about the Witch, something, anything. Alas, it turned out her initial judgement of the place, which she had made yesterday during the first search, proved correct: The place was completely useless.

 

Twilight might have cried then, lying on the cold hard floor, but found no more tears to spill. Instead she picked herself up.

 

Fluttershy needed her help. Twilight would not give up until that help had been delivered.

 

She gave a final glance from the pile of books and paper she had collected, to the now empty shelves that just waited their inevitable collapse, and turned to the stairs that led to the ground level. She was almost out of earshot when a faint sound of scratching, coming from one of the corners of the cellar, caught her attention. She turned and lighted the direction of the noise with her horn, succeeding in scaring a little mouse for good. The little animal left the page it had been eating and scuttled towards a tiny hole in the wall, where it soon vanished. Twilight was about to continue upwards but stopped instead, staring at the little hole at the corner of the room. She ended the light spell that had kept the room lit until now, letting the darkness descend instead. In the gloom she could just barely see that which had previously been hidden by the light of her own horn.    

 

There was light coming from the mouse hole.

 

Carefully Twilight walked to the hole that, upon closer inspection, clearly radiated a purplish light. She crouched and peeked inside, but couldn’t see much. She did, however, see enough to realize that there was a room behind the wall there, which made absolutely no sense. And Twilight had just experienced the most senseless day of her life.

 

With growing interest and haste, Twilight began searching the wall the hole was in. It all seemed ordinary, nothing stood out from the other three walls that kept the masses of earth from caving in. She searched for a hidden lever, for a button or a rope to pull, but found nothing. Somepony had been really serious about hiding this particular room, that much was clear. After a time Twilight gave up and sat on the pile of paper and books, staring at the wall that refused to open for her.

 

She thought about making it to open for her.

 

That might cause some havoc, though, and Twilight wasn’t that confident about the architectural steadiness of the cellar. It just might collapse on her if she overdid it. The most rational choice would be to search the rest of the room, the rest of the Town Hall, in case somepony had left behind instructions on how to open the secret door. That might take awhile, though.

 

And Twilight was already sick of rationality, anyway.     

 

After she had wiped away the splinters from her mane and coughed most of the dust from her lungs, Twilight walked through the self made door that now stood in front of her. The wall had not been that thick, like she had anticipated, though the earth that had been used to fill the space between the planks had been tightly packed. Nonetheless, it had been no match for Twilight’s spell. The cellar  only had shaken a bit, too.   

 

The first thing she noticed about the small room she entered into was that there seemed to be no mold there, not even fungi, even though the walls of this room weren’t covered with planks but revealed tightly packed earth instead. It was also surprising that no roots were visible in the dark soil, which, combined with the dryness of the place gave an impression of clinical cleanliness.

 

The second thing she noticed was the book.   

 

It lay in the far corner of the room, seemingly innocent, although Twilight could tell right away that it wasn’t innocent in the slightest. She could feel the power emanating from it, the raw magic that without a doubt created the eerie mood in the room. Twilight walked over to the book and lifted if with her magic for closer inspection, noticing how mold or any other living thing had simply left the book untouched.

 

In the cover of the book there was an illustration depicting a crude twig. Now that was a symbol Twilight could recognize anywhere, for she had read her horror stories like any good filly in Equestria.

 

In those stories, a crude twig always meant the Witch.

  
  


***

  
  


Princess Celestia often overheard the servant ponies at her court talking, in the quiet corridors and behind closed doors, of how truly magnificent and wonderful it must have been to be her, the Princess Celestia of Equestria. Such things were often said to her in person, too, although this crime was committed rather exclusively by ponies who didn’t know her that well. Truth be told, nopony knew Celestia that well anyway, although most learned this one lesson quite quickly – she hated flattery of all sorts. That is, she would have hated, had she been capable of hating anything. Perhaps it would have been more correct to say that she appreciated it not in the slightest, or, to put it even more correctly, she regarded the lack of flattery as a fundamental part of good manners.

 

The thing was, to Celestia flattery was a type of a lie, an untruth that wished to be one. Lies lead to misjudgement, misjudgement to misguided action, which often led to a disaster – and nopony knew this logic better than Celestia.

 

Nonetheless, she never tried to correct anypony for flattering her, especially when they thought she had not heard about it, because this would mean succumbing to another crime in Celestia's book, which was pettiness. In truth, the ruler of Equestria had a bunch of little notions about the flaws and virtues of character, all connected to each other in tiny and seemingly insignificant ways. She never talked about these to anypony, not even to Luna, for that would have stimulated a response to those judgements she made, a response that would eventually change the way she judged the ponies who obeyed her. In short, in Celestia's mind, letting the subject of administration know how they were administered would greatly complicate the work of the administrator, considering that this administrator wanted to know the truth about the ponies she ruled.

 

So, instead of talking, she tended to smile a lot.

 

She was smiling even now, choosing the smile signaling deep approval and unparalleled gratitude for the occasion. If one thing could for certainty be said about Celestia as a ruler, it would have been that she knew the value of a smile. She had scores of different smiles, even smiles that really weren't smiles at all, smiles one could write a book about. This smile was meant for a member of her royal guard, Keen Hoof, who was telling her that the rest of the immigrants had been inhabited in temporary accommodations outside of Canterlot, just like she had degreed. She dismissed the guard, knowing that he wouldn’t need help sleeping tonight, resting well because of the smile given to him by the white alicorn.

 

The guard had informed Celestia in her study, where the Princess often withdrew after the day spent in court. She rather enjoyed the silence of the small and comparatively ascetic chamber after the fuss and glamour of the throne room. It reminded her of her fillyhood, of the days spent among books and studies, of hours smelling of ink and dry paper. Smells were especially important for Celestia, for during centuries and millennia visual memories tended to fade and intertwine, but memories of smells lingered and endured. It was strange, really, that she could remember better with her nose than with her eyes.    

 

Her thoughts were interrupted when a guard made his presence known by addressing Celestia by her name. It turned out that Princess Luna had come to request an audience and was waiting just outside the study. Celestia answered with a smile and a nod, which was more than enough for the guard to obey.

 

When Luna entered the study Celestia could tell right away that something was wrong, just by looking at her sister’s face.

 

“Sister, we need to talk,” Luna began, speaking a bit faster than usual. Celestia already had a clue of what she was about to hear.

 

“Is it about Twilight and Fluttershy?” she asked, calmly as ever.

 

“Indeed it is. I think they have been separated from one another. And I believe Fluttershy has… Made some rather radical decisions for both of them.”          

         

“Tell me everything.”

 

Luna did.

 

After she had finished, one might have mistaken Celestia’s expression as frozen. She didn't move a muscle for a time long enough to make even Luna feel awkward - she was about to propose a plan of action when Celestia began talking, calmly and extremely considerately.

 

“I want you to travel to the Forest of Shallows. I want you to find both Twilight and Fluttershy, but make sure that they do not become aware of your presence. Not unless it becomes impossible to avoid it.”  

 

“You want me to… Simply follow them?” Luna said after it became obvious Celestia didn’t mean to continue.

 

“To follow them and to see that no harm comes to them, that is correct. Otherwise you must let them carry on as if they would be alone.”

 

“You seriously mean to go all the way through with this little… Experiment of yours, then?” Luna’s tone made her comment more of a statement than a surprised question.

 

“There is nothing little in it,” Celestia answered, “but rather, quite a considerable of amount of work is put to test in this experiment, as you call it. I also believe that you should make haste, now.”

 

Luna stared at her sister, almost finding enough arrogance in her voice to be annoyed, but left it at that. She was already at the door when she thought about something.

 

“And how would you define the harm that can occur to the ponies Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy before I should intervene?” The irony in Luna’s voice was actually just covering the genuine curiosity with which she anticipated her sister’s answer. When she heard it, she almost raised an eyebrow.

 

“Regard as the second worst scenario a situation where they become aware of your presence among them.”

 

Why, that nearly sounded as if Celestia wanted the two ponies to trespass into harm’s way, thought Luna before heading for the balcony.

 

Occupying the study alone yet again, Celestia pondered whether Luna would some day realize how little she in fact told her about her plans. And whether or not she would be angry or if she would be just hurt upon learning this. Perhaps it would be better for both of them, if neither of them would ever come to know the truth of that.     

  
  


***

  
  


The night had already descended when Twilight finally gave up and closed the book with the crude twig on its cover. As she saw the moonlight shining through the window of the house she and Fluttershy had spent their first night in, Twilight wondered where all the hours had gone. Could it really be that this was only her second night in this miserable village? How could it be, for it felt like whole weeks had already passed since their departure from Ponyville, weeks of misery and misfortune.

 

The tome she had been reading probably had something to do with the way time seemed to behave. Despite the fact that Twilight had spent countless hours studying the runic scriptures and magical writing, the book she had the honour of reading turned out to be like nothing she had ever seen. For starters, it was written in a very old style of runic script, the kind which had not been used for centuries. Without her library, coming up with an exact translation was simply impossible. Furthermore, some sections seemed to have been written in some kind of code, for reasons Twilight couldn’t even begin to fathom.

 

She had found some interesting things, though.    

 

Apparently, the book had been written by a scholar named Hollow Bark, which, as a name, was quite peculiar. Nonetheless, Hollow Bark had been very interested in the topic of witches in Equestria and this tome represented his accumulated knowledge about it, which covered a time span of almost 15 years. Suffice to say, Twilight had barely been able to pick up the main points while browsing through the pages. And even those had proven to contain an enormous amount of information.  

 

Her work hadn’t been in vain, though. The key pieces of wisdom that Hollow Bark had had to offer about the witches were the best news Twilight had that day. The ancient scholar had revealed to her, for example, that witches’ magic often specialized in controlling natural elements and even living things. They had a way of talking to animals, understanding them and, more importantly,  manipulating them. This, Hollow Bark had emphasized, was the most dangerous aspect of a witch, the way how one of them could turn an otherwise friendly and normal creature into a frenzied beast in a matter of seconds, if the witch was powerful enough.

 

There were other random facts that Twilight had managed to dig up from the ancient runes, for instance the fact that while the witches’ origins were mostly a mystery, stories of them and their evil deeds had been told among ponies of Equestria since time immemorial. Also the fact that the witches were mostly loners, avoiding even the company of each other, had come up. All this was dismissed, though, when Twilight read the following passage, or the parts that she could translate, anyway:

 

Of the Rituals of the Witches

 

Much and more can be told of the way how a witch's rituals take place and of the reasons of why they take place in the first place. Their dedication to these rituals…. (unreadable) Which is why they seem to prefer places near water to serve as their accommodation. The reason why they should…. (unreadable) ...in an otherwise peculiar manner…. Requires closer study.

 

One of these rituals includes the famous… During which…. The results often vary…. Which is why… Requires closer study…. The victim or the…. Is, most regularly, selected among the local pony population, which might explain… The disappearances… Requires closer study…

 

After this, the text turned to descriptions about the incantations of the witches, which were beyond Twilight's understanding. However, she did manage to translate the last sentence of the chapter:

It is with great sorrow that I must state the following facts that have come to light: According to the research so far, none of the victims of the ritual of… Have survived, but rather have…. In the most excruciating fashion… After which, the embrace of death often comes as a relief to the poor soul.

 

After reading the chapter, it took Twilight all her willpower to quench the instinct to rush into the Forest of Shallows in search of her friend, for she knew that if she went in unprepared, she would face the same fate Fluttershy and the villagers most likely had faced. That’s why she made herself read through one more chapter, which described the ways of fighting against witches. From those pages she found an unknown spell, although she made herself memorize it after reading the description beneath it:

 

For those in need of a weapon to battle against the creatures called witches, here you shall receive the means for the end.  

 

Twilight couldn’t tell exactly what the spell she had learned would do, so she tried it on some old chair. The piece of furniture flew to the far corner of the room, smashing to splinters against the hard wall, which suited Twilight just fine. She didn’t really want to harm the Witch, not as long as it couldn’t be proved that she really had harmed the ponies that had gone missing, but as long as she would be able to put an end to this nightmare, she wouldn’t mind packing an extra punch.

 

After packing what little food she had left along with the tome to her saddleback, Twilight began to gallop towards the Forest of Shallows, with only the eyes of the moon following her steps.

 

Within moments she was swallowed by the thick flora of the forest, the only evidence of her stay in Damp Town being the short note she had left on the door of the Town Hall. It read as follows:

  
  


To anypony who finds this message.

     

It was two days ago when I, Twilight Sparkle, and the pegasus Fluttershy arrived to this village to investigate the disappearances that had happened here a week before. We were on an errand of Princess Celestia of Equestria, to whom I would like you who are reading this message to deliver it as soon as you are able to. In the case that I, too, have gone missing since the discovery of this letter, it shall serve as my last report to my Teacher and my Princess.     

 

As we arrived to the village of Damp Town, we found the place deserted. No soul, not that of an animal or a pony, could be found, not even after a thorough search. Instead, after the first night spent, the pegasus Fluttershy has gone missing, leaving no trace.

 

Against all the odds, though, I have not lost hope but rather, I have committed all my remaining strength to finding both Fluttershy and the missing villagers. The mystery behind these disappearances has begun to unveil, for during the second day in the village I found a tome of mysterious origin, written by a scholar named Hollow Bark. The tome I speak of was old, ancient even, yet I managed to translate it as much as to become assured of the fact that the reason behind these disappearances is nothing less than a witch.

 

The tome was a massive account of the ways and nature of the creatures known as witches, and not some child’s story but a scholarly work showcasing great wisdom and dedication to the subject. This is why I had to take the book with me, for it might be the only weapon I have against the Witch that has cursed this place with her presence.     

    

And so I arrive to the reason I have written this message in the first place. Yes, I have gone after the Witch of the Shallows, to save my friend Fluttershy and all the villagers of Damp Town that might be at the witches mercy. My haste to execute this mission was the certainty that, should I hesitate, would the lives of the ponies mentioned be endangered. I can only hope that you will understand my reasoning, Princess Celestia.

 

To my other friends, to Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, to all of Ponyville: No words can describe the sorrow I feel as I write this letter, of knowing that I may never see you again. No time would be enough to tell of my feelings towards you all, and time is a commodity I do not have the luxury of spending. Again, I can only wish for your best and hope for your understanding.   

 

Good Bye,

 

Twilight Sparkle, Faithful Student of Princess Celestia of Equestria and a Honoured Friend of all of Ponyville

  
  


                        ***

  
  


The morning came like it always came: All at once. Well, really it was somewhat more complicated than that, for even though many scholars agreed that, hypothetically speaking, there was an absolute moment when night turned into day, some argued that nopony could ever exactly tell when that was. Was it the moment when the first rays of the sun touched the ground? Or was it the short moment just before the sun would rise from the horizon, the one that was particularly clear at sea? Or perhaps the line between night and day, the morning, was as such nothing but a notion of sentient beings, like the ponies. There had been a time when Twilight herself had pondered questions like these, although she had quickly turned to problems that were more easily conceivable. Theoretical philosophy had never been one of her strong points.

 

And yet, staggering in the waking Forest of the Shallows, Twilight found herself wondering when exactly had the morning come, her thoughts gradually becoming as obscure as any great philosopher’s theories. She kept wondering things like where she was, whether she had really stayed awake the whole night or not, and were the trees really that wobbly around this part of the forest. She had slept some, she knew she had, or perhaps she had just dreamed of sleeping. But that meant she had slept, right…?

 

Suddenly Twilight’s left leg sank up to her knee into the greenish water, waking her up all at once. She pulled free and quickly backed away a good five steps, her eyes wildly scanning the rippling waters in front of her. Nothing happened for a while, save Twilight's heart climbing down from her throat. An outside observer might have questioned her strong reaction, but they would have had to be unaware of the experiences Twilight had had during the night. When the moon had been hidden by the dense canopy of leaves, she had been made to do with only her horn, the use of which she had also had to minimize for fear of the Witch who might spot her. During that time she had almost drowned not once but thrice, for the forest floor was filled with not only an opaque layer of water, but also with deep pits that seemed to be filled with quicksand. At least something had tried to pull her under every time she had fallen in one the holes. And those had only been some of the misfortunes Twilight had gone through that night.

 

The water settled down, eventually, yet Twilight stood still, hanging her head, her legs shaking uncontrollably. She was so tired. But she had to go on, she had to. There was nopony else, even though Twilight could have sworn that someone was watching her every step. That was probably the exhaustion thinking, though. That was the only one who had been talking lately, the exhaustion, and it was saying things like “Why were you so stupid as to rush into the woods alone at night?” or “I don’t even know where I am or where I am heading” or simply “I’m going to die here.” It was that last thought in particular which had become more convincing during the last few hours.

 

“I’m going to die here.” Twilight said aloud. Not even an echo answered to her.

 

I am going to die here.

 

I Am. Going. To Die. Here.

 

No.

 

“I refuse to… I will not… die here.” Twilight whispered through gritted teeth, keeping her eyes shut to prevent tears falling into the water that stood calm like a mirror. Well, not exactly, for there was a slight current now, a tiny flow that snaked towards Twilight, mixing with the tears that would not stop falling. Twilight saw the tears dropping into the current, breaking its path, scattering it around her hooves. Only after some minutes did she realize that the current was coloured red.

 

Vermilion.

 

Very slowly, Twilight raised her head to follow the fine red line with her gaze. It seemed to go on and on forever, growing stronger the longer she followed it.      

 

Until Twilight saw a piece of turf that stood out of the waters. The red was really flowing from that piece of turf, it seemed.

 

There was a figure on that turf, about the size of a pony. It wasn't moving. Twilight couldn’t see all that well because of the thin morning mist that was beginning to rise from the cool waters, but she could definitely see this form lying about fifty meters from her.

 

Suddenly she felt like being pulled under again. But this time, she knew she had to dive right in, which she did. She began by circling the first hole she had almost fallen into, keeping her eyes fixed on the unmoving figure. A spell was beginning to emerge from the maze of her mind and onto the tip of her tongue, the one that Hollow Bark had recommended. Her horn began darkening by the weight of magic that was forming there.

 

She began closing in, very carefully, wincing every time a small wave made that tiny noise that waves make. The figure didn’t move, though, so it probably hadn’t noticed her.

 

It was some ten meters from the figure that Twilight realized that she had been stalking a corpse, a deer’s corpse, as it turned out. A corpse something really had made a mess of.

 

The dull feeling brought along by her weariness protected her from the worst wave of nausea, but seeing the deer spread like a muffin that somepony had stomped on still had quite an effect on her. Nonetheless, her empty bowels refused to bring up anything but bile, not that she was that hungry anymore, anyway.

 

It was then that she noticed the hoofprints in the soil.

 

They were definitely hoofprints, Twilight could tell, but whose, she could not say. One thing was certain, though: a hoofprint wouldn’t last longer than a day in soil this wet, and these ones were still quite deep. That meant that whoever had left the prints couldn’t be that far away. With a sudden flash of hope, Twilight began searching the surrounding ground for other prints, which she soon found aplenty, although not all of them were a pony’s.

 

In addition to the deer’s hoofprints, there were marks that had come from… paws… pressed deep into the ground. Big paws, they had been. Save their canine nature and size, there wasn’t much Twilight could say about the prints. Except for the most useless fact, which was that they unnerved her beyond anything else. Was the animal that had left these prints responsible of what had happened to the deer? What kind of a beast would be capable of doing something like this to a fellow animal? Animals were supposed to be friends, not enemies, why had this one acted so, so… Brutally? It was as if the animal was… made… to do that…

 

The Witch had cursed some canine to kill for her.

 

But why? Why would the witch wish to slaughter some deer? For ingredients? For fun? Twilight didn’t know, just like she didn’t know why only Fluttershy had been taken and she was left alone. She had pondered questions like that during the previous night, but had finally ended up discarding them, for whatever answers were out there, she could not deduce them. Just like she couldn’t deduce the meaning of the butchery in front of her. In the end, Twilight didn’t really care about stuff like that. All she cared about now was finding Fluttershy and the villagers as soon as possible.

 

But how could she do it? She had already tried scanning the forest with her magic, searching for traces of evil magic or of magic at all; she had done nothing else for the whole night. The forest was vast, that was certain, but Twilight’s spell could reach a radius of several miles. This meant that if her spell had been valid, which was for certain, the Witch hadn’t been even close to where Twilight had been searching. From this, then, Twilight could ascertain that the ponies she was searching for wouldn’t be anywhere near either. That was the real reason for Twilight’s feeling of hopelessness, and not so much the lack of sleep.

 

It could be that the Witch knew how to hide her magical trace, which would mean two things: She expected to be followed and that her expertise at magic greatly surpassed Twilight’s. Needless to say, neither of her conclusions encouraged her.          

 

And then it hit her.

 

She could use a spell she had learned long ago to track down the canine beast that had savaged the deer. It really had been a while since she had used it, and she wasn’t sure if it would work here, but before she could talk herself out of it, the spell had already been cast.

 

It worked.

 

She could see a thin coloured cloud drifting in the air, fluxing and changing colour at every second. The sight almost made her giggle of happiness, until she remembered the deer lying next to her, which made her serious again.

 

She was seeing the smell of the canine animal that had killed the deer.

 

It was quite a simple spell, really, meant to find dogs that went missing and wouldn’t heed their owners’ calls. She thanked Celestia that she knew the spells to see the lingering smell of dogs, cats and mice, since for every animal there was another spell to be learned and, to be honest, they weren’t the most important ones to learn. With a rush of enthusiasm, Twilight ran to follow the floating pattern, only to sink neck deep into the water right after she managed to get off the turf. After swallowing a few gulps of the stinking water and vomiting it right back up, Twilight got a hold of her nerves and her body, which were already running on borrowed energy. She took a deep breath. She needed to focus in order to cast the levitation spell with which she had made progress through the worst parts of the forest. Were it not for the fact that it consumed so much energy, she would have gladly travelled like that all the time.

 

Her eyebrows furrowing, Twilight rose half a feet off the ground and began floating in the wake of the misty magical line that mixed with the actual mist of the waking forest. The theory was that the Witch would keep her pet close. At least Twilight hoped she would be that careless.

 

She never had noticed that while most of the blood streaming from the turf originated from the deer, some of it dripped gently from a different source. It dripped from a pool splattered against a tree that overlooked the turf, a tree somepony could have described as comparatively comfortable. A tree somepony might have relaxed on.   

 

           

                        ***

  
  


After four hours of following the magical scent of the animal, Twilight finally managed to find its source. That is, she managed to locate the place where the trail was only hours old - one of the beauties of the spell was that it showed not only the way the animal had gone, but when it had gone as well. The more recent scents glowed stronger than the old ones, although it still had taken Twilight a while to make sense of the paths the beast had travelled. It sure was well adapted into this environment, being able to move so well in such a wide area. Twilight, on the other hoof, was not that well suited to travel in the Forest of Shallows: She could feel her strength failing when she finally came across the place what seemed to be the lair of the Witch.   

 

At least she had heard that witches prefered to spend their daytime in dark caves and the one in front of her surely matched the description. She had stopped at the foot of a small, steep-sided hill,  some 50 meters from the cave entrance, which loomed above her head. She could sense the utter darkness that flowed from within. The water around here was only ankle deep, so she could stand on her own feet, even though she doubted she could do even that for long anymore. Nonetheless, she tried concentrating on the task ahead.

 

It was then that she realized how scared she actually was.  

 

Twilight barely dared to breathe, yet alone move, but something needed to happen. She had come this far, it all depended on her now: Not just her own life, but those of Fluttershy and who knew how many villagers, too. She needed to brace herself, to stop shaking, to become the heroine of the day. Suddenly she wished that Shining Armor would be there with her – he was the real hero, after all. He could do – No, that was not the path Twilight should go down.

 

Shining Armor couldn’t help her now. Nopony could.

 

And then she was on the move, making way for the mouth of the cave. She dared not to use magic to get there, not yet, in the case the Witch could sense her spell. All seemed to indicate that her opponent was a talented magic user, likely way past her own abilities, which meant that surprise was her best shot at defeating her. The element of surprise... And indomitable will. She wouldn’t back down, no matter what, even if it would mean her life. That was what Shining Armor would have done.

 

Despite the best efforts of the muddy waters to pull her into their embrace, Twilight, after an eternity, made it to dry ground. Her heart was living a life of its own, it seemed. With eyes nailed to the cave entrance, she started climbing, minding her step and watching out for loose rocks. Moss was everywhere, thick and soft, and Twilight thanked Celestia for it, since it silenced her hoofsteps almost completely.

 

A few meters outside of the entrance, she could just make out voices – fast breathing, panting, barking. It sounded like some animal. That thought froze her: Did the Witch keep her animals that close to her all the time? Did the spell affect them even now? Could they smell or hear her coming, had they done so already? Panic started to rise in her, it was already past her neck – and the there was another voice.

 

It was a scream.

 

It was Fluttershy.

 

And just like that, Twilight stopped thinking and rushed into the cave. She didn’t need to run for long, for a jagged rock in dark has a way of stopping carelessly running ponies. She hit the stony floor hard. Had it not been for the other scream, recognizably Fluttershy's, she might just have let the mists of  consciousness float away – instead she darted onwards, this time lighting her way with her horn. She ran, ran like she had never run before, ran like her life depended on it.

 

Then she was there.

 

The space she entered was wide, although not tall enough to allow two ponies to stand atop each other. Stalactites and stalagmites decorated the place like candles and, more importantly, illuminated it, too. A closer look would have revealed the colonies of glowworms that fed on the moss growing on the stone – indeed, an academic mind might have spent better part of a year studying the ecosystem of the place. As it happened, though, the only academic mind present had her whole attention nailed to the sight in one the room’s corners. A sight somepony would have been honoured to paint a picture of.

 

It was the most seemingly innocent sight Twilight had ever witnessed, to see Fluttershy playing with some canine pups, oblivious to the outside world. And Fluttershy smiled. And laughed too, laughed in a pitched, tensed and almost frightened voice, but still, she laughed. She also screamed once – when one of the pups bit her front leg – until she noticed Twilight standing there, staring at her. It was then that Twilight noticed the wound bleeding on her right temple – that was the signal for reality to come flooding in, fast and violently.

 

”Fluttershy, get away from those animals!” Her voice was shaking, a quality of voice which, combined with the echo in the room, created a sense of an edge over which only insanity reigned. That caught not only the full attention of Fluttershy but of the pups as well.

 

”Twilight, listen to me, listen to me very - “

 

”Get away from them, now!” Twilight's words were given weight by the shadows creeping along her horn.

 

”They are not dangerous!” Fluttershy screamed, sounding like somepony verging between pure panic and self control forced to the extreme, the combination apparently being held together by a very light thread. Twilight didn’t care to know on which side Fluttershy would land should the thread snap. As was the case, she couldn’t say anymore what she really cared about. That is usually the time when instinct takes control.

 

Without wasting another second, Twilight caught Fluttershy with a levitation spell and yanked her away from the pups, knocking one of them over while doing it. They started whining loudly.

 

The whining was almost immediately answered by a loud growl, coming from a corridor leading even deeper into the cave. Twilight could hear something emerging, something big.

 

”Fluttershy, get behind me!” She had let go of her friend at the instant she heard the growl and now Fluttershy was standing there, in the middle of the room, breathing fast and looking like she was about to collapse. Her head wound was bleeding more heavily.

 

”Twilight”, she panted, ”You don't understand, you don't - ”

 

She had not finished her sentence when a wolf twice the size of Twilight and darker than the corridor it came from landed on the other side of the room, fangs revealed. It scanned the room for half a second, saw Twilight, and leapt.

 

Two more things happened at that exact moment.

 

The first thing was Fluttershy screaming something incoherent and making a move towards Twilight, tripping over her own hooves instead.

 

The second was Twilight's horn growing darker than any natural dark had any right to be. And right after that, igniting into a blaze no sun would be ashamed of.

 

This all encapsulated in a scene nopony would be willing to make a painting of, at least anypony sane. Of that scene, the gory and furry lumps of meat, along with some random bones, would be the real eye catchers. The second price would, without discussion, go to the look on Fluttershy's face, stained in blood, of course, for most of the place was. The third place, somewhat disputably, would have been swept home by the storm raging in Twilight's mind, a storm of dark, sinister silence, seasoned with a hefty dose of nausea. And finally, the honourable mention would have gone to the mindless, endless, hopeless crying and whining of the little pups in the corner where they all had huddled. Some were even trying to claw their way out through the stone, achieving no more than making a ruin of their soft paws.

 

This would have been the total score, had someone insane enough, reality for example, been there to keep one.

 

The moment seemed to go on and on, passing through eternity like a ship sailing some vast ocean. Twilight felt detached, which is to say that she felt nothing at all, not really even the sharp blow that Fluttershy delivered to her left cheek, even though it knocked her to the ground. Casually she found herself amazed that her friend could pack such a punch in her hooves. The thought waited a moment, patiently as ever, as Twilight slowly regained her wits and realized just what had happened.

 

”You, you... Kicked me?” she said, not quite believing her own voice even as a bruise was beginning to form where the kick had landed.

 

”You killed their mother.” One could have pierced steel with Fluttershy's tone, sharp and thin as it was. It was a shame, really, that it only thing it managed to stave in was Twilight's heart.

 

”Wh-, what?” she asked, incredulous, looking simultaneously at the pups Fluttershy had apparently been referring to. They were still panicking and whining, although a few had crawled to the lump of meat that most resembled the form of their late mother.

 

”YOU KILLED THEIR MOTHER!” Fluttershy shouted from the bottom of her lungs, scaring the pups even more and making Twilight realize that maybe she should be scared, too. The word “mother” kept bouncing of the blood stained walls.

 

”I, it, you, they, we – I didn't – I was just... trying to save you?” The words came staggering to Twilight's mind, even more so to her lips, where some of them simply refused to leave her tongue.

 

”I didn't need to be saved! Couldn't you see? Couldn't you see?! We were playing! They were just puppies! From what did you try to save me?!”

 

The last question suddenly made Twilight remember something, something really important.

 

”The Witch”, she whispered, to which Fluttershy responded: ”The Witch?”, to which Twilight shouted: ”The Witch!”

 

”The Witch!”, she repeated, continuing with an almost hysterical tone: ”We must leave before the Witch returns! That wolf was cursed, bewitched, controlled by the Witch! It could not be saved, it was trying to kill us! I had to, I had to... Kill it.”

 

To that, Fluttershy could only answer with a stare radiating utter confusement. The blood stains made her expression look less comical than it would normally have.

 

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice settling down a bit, but only a bit.

 

“The, the Witch,” Twilight began sounding less confident now, “It was the Witch who kidnapped you, who kidnapped all the villagers, who made that wolf insane. I, I read about her before we left, there had been incidents in here, strange incidents, there had been a rumour about a witch that caused animals act weird.”   

 

“A rumour…” The word barely made it past Fluttershy’s lips, past her mind, which seemed to have moved somewhere outside her body for a while. At least her eyes stared at nothing, or perhaps at something that nopony else could see.

 

“That was the only sensible explanation!” Twilight shouted, feeling suddenly very insecure about herself. All of a sudden, her certainty with which she had just minutes ago rushed into the cave, to save the day from an evil sorcerer called the Witch, seemed to fade. She no longer knew exactly where she was, why she was there, and what had she been doing. She could feel her wings simply falling off, feather by feather.    

 

“There never was a witch,” she said, more to herself than to Fluttershy. Saying it made her feel hollow, more so than ever before.

 

It was then that Fluttershy collapsed.

 

“Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted and rushed towards her friend, only to be stopped by stinging pain cutting through her right front hoof. She screamed in pain and looked down, seeing a dark furry canine pup biting her leg, drawing blood even. She even saw a few more of the pups moving between her and the collapsed Fluttershy who was crying hysterically now. The scene made no sense at first, until Twilight realized, with a feeling of horrible dread, that the pups were trying to protect Fluttershy from her.

 

“No, no!”, she began, “I mean no harm to her, I mean, to you either, don't be afraid!”

 

Her plea was only met with growls and bared fangs. The path was blocked and could not be opened without force, that was certain, for the pups saw her as a villain, as a monster who had killed their mother and no more. It was absurd, really, the way how reality ended up unfolding sometimes. Twilight had entered the cave as a brave heroine, ready to fight for her friends and fellow ponies, but ended up as nothing more than a wretched murderer.

 

No.

 

That was not it, it couldn’t be. She could not be the source of evil here, she had only meant to do good! But she had to defend herself, had to, for the wolf was too strong, too huge, it had come so fast, she had had no time to think, but only to act. And she had expected magical resistance, that’s why her attempt to merely stop the leaping beast had had a more… Dramatic effect than she had meant.  

 

Those were more or less the words Twilight used to turn reality the right way round, although she  barely managed to convince herself - and she was the one trying really hard to believe in her version of the story. Quite the contrary to her wish, the pups were becoming even more aggressive, growling louder and circling around her, though some of them were licking Fluttershy's face clean of tears and blood. To Twilight’s astonishment, this seemed to calm her down somewhat, for she was not crying so hysterically anymore, instead resolving to respond to the puppies’ act of comforting her with similar gestures. It really made Twilight feel wretched to see that.         

 

Wretched enough to make her angry.

 

“What were you expecting me to do, then!” she shouted, aiming her words to Fluttershy, who flinched upon hearing them. The puppies simply backed away.

 

“I was alone, all alone, what were you expecting me to do but to assume the worst?!” Twilight continued: “I went to sleep with you by my side and woke to find you gone, what was that all about?! Where did you go, what happened to you?”

 

Fluttershy stared at Twilight with tear stained eyes, her mouth trying to form words that somehow managed to arrange into a more or less coherent sentence.

 

“I, I, I was… I thought you would… I never dreamed that… you would… come after me…”

 

To that, Twilight could only answer with: “What?!” The shout made Fluttershy flinch again. She continued, this time seemingly speaking to somepony else than Twilight, perhaps to herself.

 

“I was, I had…  A nightmare, yes, I had a nightmare. A bad one. But no, it was not a dream, for it was real, I could feel it. I had felt it all along, but only in here I knew it.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, suddenly feeling more anxious than angry towards her friend, for she didn’t seem to be aware of her surroundings anymore. She was just staring somewhere far away, almost forgetting to breathe between sentences.

 

“The dream, the nightmare.” Fluttershy continued. “There were teeth, there was darkness, there was pain. There was death. But I, I was there, too, except I wasn’t, I could only watch as, as, as…”

 

“What did you watch, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, almost whispering the words. Now the pups were backing away from Fluttershy too, for she began to rise.

 

“I watched the wolf eat a pony.” She said.

 

The two ponies stared at each other for an eternity. One of the pups whined. Twilight slowly turned her head towards it.

 

“You mean, it, they, you - you mean to say that - they ate, they ate… the ponies?”

 

Twilight heard herself utter the words but somehow she couldn’t link them to herself, like she couldn’t link the affirmative empty stare Fluttershy gave to her to the sentence she had just said, an eternity ago.

 

Unable to stand reality that collapsed all over her, Twilight, after staying awake for over a day and night, spending all her energy and eating nothing but swamp water for the entire time, fainted then and there. It was a blessing, really, for otherwise she just might have gone insane.     

  
  


                        ***

  
  


Fluttershy watched her friend collapse, yet did nothing to stop her fall. She merely observed, with some curiosity, as some of the pups began approaching Twilight, even nibbling her mane and hooves. Twilight just breathed shallowly.

 

Fluttershy idly wondered if the puppies would kill Twilight before starting to eat her.

 

If the puppies.

 

Would kill.

 

Kill.

 

What?

 

“NO!”  

 

The pups jumped upon hearing Fluttershy’s scream and scattered as she drove them away from Twilight. Fluttershy quickly checked that no real harm had come to her still unconscious friend and then turned to face the puppies in the room, looking at each one in turn as she spoke to them.

 

“You DON’T eat ponies anymore, remember? NO eating ponies! And especially not this one pony! You don’t eat her, you don’t eat anypony anymore, got it?”

 

The pups were looking at her, tilting their heads from side to side and looking confused. They would understand, Fluttershy thought as she watched them, but it would take time. Time and work. They had been lost, but she had found them and would teach them to be good dogs. That’s what Fluttershy did, she made things good again.

 

That’s why she had left Twilight, to make things good again.

 

Fluttershy, for the first time in ages, noticed that she was covered in blood. Actually, most of the place was, even the pups, even Twilight. She remembered why this was so, and almost collapsed again. The only reason why she didn’t, was the knowledge that she might not be able to get up again, if she did. She knew that something needed to be done, though the problem was that she had no clue what that something would be, and even if she did, she doubted if she had the strength to do it.   

 

She wondered if she could talk her way out if this mess whenever the rest of the pack would return from the hunt. She had the nasty feeling that while she herself might survive, Twilight surely wouldn’t. Fluttershy could calm down an enraged manticore, she could reason with an egoistic dragon, but she knew it would be a struggle to hold back a pack of wolves from killing the one pony who was responsible for spreading one of their kin on the walls of their cave.

 

She started to panic.

 

It was when Fluttershy dragged the unconscious Twilight out of the cave by the mane that Princess Luna decided that the threshold for her intervention had been crossed.

 

“That’s far enough, Fluttershy,” she said quietly. Fluttershy screamed, let go of Twilight's mane and whirled around to face Princess Luna standing in front of her. She almost fainted.

 

“I am more than aware of your confusion, Fluttershy, but I assure you, the feeling is mutual. Nonetheless, time is of the essence now, and all questions you have will be answered in time. I shall in a moment transfer the three of us well away from here, but before I do so, I want you to tell me if there’s anything I must know before we go. Is Twilight critically hurt? Are you? Speak quickly.”

 

Fluttershy stared with her mouth and eyes wide open at the dark alicorn that spoke and acted as if she was the embodiment of all the reason and confidence in the universe. Without thinking, Fluttershy produced this one question.

 

“Can we take the puppies along?”

 

Luna raised her gaze from Fluttershy to the litter of puppies that were lurking deeper in the cave. They seemed to be terrified of her, yet were driven to follow Fluttershy by some instinct. The combination of the two urges made their behaviour seem rather silly.

 

“Are you certain that your proposition is thoroughly thought out?” Luna asked. Fluttershy only nodded, with eyes and mouth still wide open.

 

“Then it shall be so.”

    

With that, they were all gone.

  
  


                        ***

  
  


Fluttershy awoke with her heart in her throat, sweat trickling from her brow and a muffled scream on her tongue. For an instant she thought she was still in the cave, that the pack was about to return, that Twilight would...

 

She then realized she was lying on a bed, on a rather nice one for that. The headboard was decorated with carvings of unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi. The pillows, sheets and mattress were the most comfortable she had ever had and the room she was in like nothing she had ever seen.

 

For a moment she thought she was dead. She had to bite her lip really hard to make sure she wasn’t.   

 

She remembered Princess Luna, then. How had she appeared out of nowhere and, and… What? What exactly had happened then? She couldn’t remember, really. Bits and pieces of memories began emerging from her waking consciousness, but the big picture was very fuzzy, almost unrecognizable. She remembered being covered in blood, remembered being so scared, remembered the wolf.

 

Suddenly she really needed to see somepony, anypony. She needed, she needed… Twilight.

 

Where was Twilight?

 

Carefully, Fluttershy got off the bed and stretched her legs and wings a bit while rubbing the last bits of dream from her eyes. She felt… Better than she thought she should, as weird as that sounded. She remembered having had a wound on her temple, but when she looked at her image on a mirror in the right corner of the room, she could not even see a scar. Somepony had even combed her mane.

 

The door on her left opened.

 

Twilight entered the room. The two ponies looked each other deep in the eye, and for a fraction of a second, Fluttershy didn’t recognize her friend. Such was the look on Twilight’s face.

 

After that, they ran to each other’s embraces, hugging each other tighter than they had ever hugged anypony else. Twilight tried to say something but could only formulate meaningless and detached words which were like music to Fluttershy’s ears.

 

They might have stayed like that for a while, yet the loud grumbling of Fluttershy’s stomach managed to break the moment, letting them laugh for the first time since they had left Ponyville. They laughed until it hurt, and laughed some more after. Finally Twilight managed to speak coherently enough to form a sentence.   

 

“There’s, there’s food out there, in the next room. Breakfast. I already had some myself, its… Really good.”

 

“Breakfast,” Fluttershy simply said. The word felt good on her tongue, saying it was like praying, really. It was so very… Ordinary. Such a wonderfully ordinary word.

 

The actual breakfast proved to be really good, too, just like Twilight had promised.

 

While they ate, Fluttershy recounted the events that had taken place after Twilight had fainted, telling how Princess Luna had come and delivered them to safety, the news making Twilight's jaw drop. They talked a lot, things like where they were (probably in Canterlot), what time it was (already afternoon, considering how little light the windows let in) and what would happen next (they could only guess, for apart from each other, they had seen nopony else that day. Twilight had awoken about half an hour earlier than Fluttershy in a room next to hers, found out she was still asleep and left it at that).  

 

After they had eaten, which took a while, since it seemed to be days since neither of them had had a decent meal, both of them fell silent. The better they realized that they really had made it back alive, the clearer it became that they would have to go through the events of the Shallows. There was no other choice, how could there be, after such an experience? The thing was, neither of them really wanted to begin.

 

It was Fluttershy who finally took the initiative.

 

“I’m, I’m… Really sorry that I, that I… Kicked you, Twilight. No, I’m more than sorry, I - “

 

“I know, Fluttershy, I know,” Twilight said quietly, putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder as they sat around the breakfast table. Fluttershy responded by pressing her face against Twilight’s mane.

 

“Maybe I deserved to be kicked,” said Twilight after a while. “I mean, the thing I did, I have no excuses for myself… It was just, I…. I don’t know, I don’t even remember it that well, honestly.”

 

“It’s… It’s okay, Twilight. What’s you did was… Not really anypony’s fault… The wolfmother, she, she, she thought that you were threatening the puppies. Had you not, had you not… stopped her… She would have torn your throat out.”

 

There really was nothing Twilight could have said to that, so she didn’t.

 

“I still don’t quite get why you… Left me…” She said. Fluttershy seemed to press her face tighter into her friend’s mane and shoulder. Twilight let her take her time to answer, which, after awhile, she did.

 

“When I left you in Damp Town, I thought I was making the right choice. I wanted to protect you, but to do that I had to leave you. It’s, it’s hard to understand now, but back then it made sense, it really did.”

“The first night we spent in Damp Town, I had a nightmare. Not just a nightmare but a vision. That’s the best word I can come up with, a vision. I had had two before, and they were all pretty much the same. There were… There was this… Beast, in the vision. I think it was the same wolfmother as in the cave, but I can’t be sure, the visions were always so… Hazy.”

“I had the first vision in my cottage, about two weeks ago, during the night, they always came during the night. Already then I knew it was no dream that I saw, but back then I didn’t want to believe anything otherwise, so I didn’t mention it to anypony. I just tried to forget it.”

“Then you came four days ago and told me that we would be travelling to Damp Town. I had already mostly forgotten the first vision, but during our first night, while we were in the train, I had the second one. It was then that I knew the visions wouldn’t leave me alone, that they had a meaning, although it was one that I couldn’t yet understand. Not until I had the third vision, the one in Damp Town.”

“I saw the wolf, Twilight. And the wolf saw me. Or at least it felt me, but I’m sure it knew I saw it. I could also do more than just see the wolf, I could feel it, like I was the wolf. It’s really hard to put in words. I doubt if I really can, but you must believe me, even though it sounds mad. You believe me, right?”

 

“Of course I believe you, Fluttershy,” Twilight answered. She could see the relief on her friend’s face that was no longer buried against her shoulder. It made her feel better, even though the atmosphere in the room was still a bit sinister. When Fluttershy continued to speak, it felt like even the walls were listening.

 

“In the third vision, I finally understood why I had had them. It was because the wolf was not well, it was not normal, it was… Different, somehow. I already knew it had killed, although I could never have dreamed that it had killed… Ponies. But after the third vision I knew that the wolfmother had been behind the disappearances in Damp Town.”

“I tried to talk to the wolf, in the vision. I tried but it wouldn’t listen, it wouldn’t understand, not like all other animals understand me. Worse still, I couldn’t understand it - the wolf’s mind was a mess, Twilight. There was nothing but instinct there, nothing but thoughts of food, sleep and survival. And memories, too. Memories of eating… eating… pon-....”

 

In the end, Twilight simply raised her friend’s chin to match her from eye to eye. Fluttershy didn't try to finish her sentence after that.  

 

“After the vision ended I realized just what we were dealing with. There never was a witch or any sentient malice in the Forest of Shallows, just a wolfmother with a litter to feed.”

 

At this point, a shudder travelled through Twilight’s spine, yet she did nothing to interrupt Fluttershy's story.

 

“I knew that the wolf would attack anypony it met, for she saw them as sources of food and nothing more. I was so scared, Twilight, I spent hours without sleeping, just fighting with my thoughts, trying to figure out what to do. I almost woke you up twice, no, thrice, but in the end I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring you to harm’s way, Twilight.”

“You must believe me when I say that leaving you then and there in that cottage was the hardest thing I have ever done, yet I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I was so sure that if we met the wolf together, I wouldn’t be able to make a connect with it well enough to prevent bloodshed. What happened afterwards proved that I was right, as much as it hurts me to know that.”

 

“So you thought that you could just… Talk with the wolf?” said Twilight after a while, sounding incredulous.

 

“I couldn’t have been sure, of course I couldn’t have, but I had to try. Had I waited, somepony else might have suffered for it.”

 

Now that was an argument Twilight had hard time refuting. Still, she had to try.

 

“But there had to be something you could have done otherwise, right? Couldn't you have at least written a note for me or something?”

 

“And what would I have written, Twilight? That I had a really good hunch that I needed to face the wolf in some forest, a wolf that I knew had already killed several ponies? That wouldn’t have made a very good note, I’m afraid. My hope was that, should you find me gone, you would make it back to Owlmoor and find help, which would give me enough time to find the wolf and see if it could be cured.”

 

To put it plainly, Twilight felt stunned. She would have never thought that the Fluttershy she thought she had known so well could come up with a plan like the one she had just described, not to mention actually executing it. And these visions she spoke of? Sure, Twilight believed Fluttershy herself believed that she had had some kind of strange dreams, but to speak of visions sounded insane. Anyhow, her story seemed broken, disjointed, as if she was just making stuff up as she went along. Twilight was already searching flaws in her friend’s tale when a great door behind them opened, letting in a burst of light.       

 

It was Princess Celestia. Twilight's heart almost melted at the sight of her.

 

“Princess!” She shouted, unable and unwilling to restrain herself. She rose from her chair and began running towards her beloved mentor, who welcomed her with a smile warm as the sun itself. Twilight simply threw herself around the alicorn’s neck, hugging her tightly.  

 

“I’m very pleased to see you too, Twilight.” Celestia said, wiping the small tear off her pupil’s cheek. “And you too, Fluttershy”, she continued, raising her gaze to the pegasus who was still shyly sitting by the table. She smiled in response.

 

“Princess…” Twilight said again, still hugging Celestia as if she would disappear should she let go of her.

 

“I know, Twilight, I know. We shall talk soon, be certain of that. Before we do, however, I would like to know if you two have already discussed the events of Damp Town between yourselves, or if you would like some more time?”

 

Twilight let go of Celestia and turned to Fluttershy, who was looking away. That struck Twilight as bit weird, yet she didn’t think much about it. Instead, she turned her head back to Celestia.

 

“We have talked enough, for today. It’s time for me to give my report,” Twilight answered.

 

Celestia only smiled to that.

 

“While you are quite right on that, Twilight, there’s something we must do before that. It happens that, before receiving your report, I shall give you a report of my own. Come, walk with me.”

 

And with that, Celestia began walking away from the breakfast room. Twilight gave a final glance towards Fluttershy, who was still staring at the floor, before she quietly followed in her mentors hoofsteps.

 

They closed the door upon leaving the room.

  
  


***

  
  


   

There were dozens of thoughts running through Twilight's mind, and all they seemed to be achieving was to hide the meaning of why they were running wild in the first place. The keen eye that Celestia kept on her did nothing to help her confusion, either – it felt like she was in some kind of a test now, although she had not the vaguest idea of what exactly was being tested. Celestia’s voice seemed somehow different, too.

 

”You are an exceptional pony, Twilight Sparkle. The hardships you have faced are like nothing a common pony nowadays has to face, like nothing they would even dream of, yet you, with your friends’ support, have conquered them all. There are only few ponies that I would consider as your equals, know that. Nonetheless... I can not help but state that there are still some qualities in you that need to be honed, so that one day they might be realized in their most beautiful blossom.”

 

Celestia smiled while she spoke, like she almost always did, yet Twilight, while she responded with a careful smile of her own, couldn’t say for sure whether she had seen this particular smile before.  Therefore, she was oblivious to the true meaning of the smile. She kept her silence while Celestia continued.

 

”Of course, the attributes that make you you, have not entirely resulted from the growth of character, which would have taken place regardless of the world that those attributes were born into. Nor were they the logical sum of all the movements, which compose the world that gave birth to those attributes, but a combination of these two elements was required to make you, Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia of Equestria. Do you realize where I am going on with this?”

 

The trance created by the soft voice of Celestia was shattered by the force of the question which marked its end.  

 

”You mean to say,” Twilight started, ”that there is a specific reason for what I am and who I am? A reason that is not entirely decided by my own will?”

 

Celestia studied her pupil, never once taking her eyes off her, never once letting her smile fail in front of her.      

 

”Walk with me, Twilight,” she said and, without a moment of hesitation, began walking to the far side of the throne room where they had been talking in. Twilight ran the few steps she lagged behind and settled herself on her teacher's side, although she made sure always staying a step behind.

 

”There was no untruth in what you said”, Celestia began, ”although the point I sought was not among the words you uttered. There is a specific meaning for your particular existence, but so it is for everypony and everything else in this world, which is the only one there is. With the negative notion of other worlds expires also the meaning of particular reason of existence, for nothing is left but the actual existence, which has no reason nor meaning, since it is the reason and the meaning.”

 

”I'm sorry, Princess, but despite my best efforts and wishes I don't seem to understand your meaning.” It was better to confess that right away, Twilight knew, for Celestia would know anyway.  If Twilight were to guess, Celestia probably knew that already, knew that Twilight would be lost in the metaphysical riddles she spoke in. Twilight took it as a kind of a game, yet she couldn’t say if Celestia would have agreed, despite her casual answer.

 

”Your philosophical aptitude is the first victim of your success in other areas of academic way of life, it would seem. You might be surprised to learn about all the magic that can be revealed, not with a spellbook, but a careful consideration of discourse.”

 

”I swear to remember that, Princess.”

 

They moved through a door at the back of the throne room, stepping outside at the top of the innermost wall. A guard pony saluted, a gesture Celestia likewise answered. They walked slower know, bathing in the light of the setting sun. It was warm and Twilight, strangely enough, considering the events of the week, felt at peace. Yet she anticipated that Celestia had something important to tell her.

 

”What I strived to tell you, Twilight, was that the world we live in, the land known as Equestria, is nothing but the result of the work and thought of what we, the people of it, pour into it. Likewise we are nothing but the collective work of others, of ponies with whom we can be ”we”. And nothing else exists, no other reason but this: We do not have the meaning because we are the meaning.”

         ”Nonetheless, not all ponies understand this, not even you, in fact. Not yet.

This results in all the pain, agony and suffering that ponies have ever faced, are now facing and will ever face. Their ignorance of the fact that their pain is nothing but a manifestation of their meaning, not an external force or a hostile representation, is the only entity I have ever dared to call evil in this world we know.”  

    ”I can see the confusion in your eyes – that is the same confusion I felt for a long, long time, longer than you can imagine. No matter how much I fought against the injustice and suffering of this world, no matter the work and effort I made myself pour into it, I could not seem to dispose of the evil in it. Not until I realized the essence of that evil, the essence that was and is nothing more than what I just told you.”

    ”It was the day Luna and I defeated Discord that I found that essence, that truth, although Luna did not. She was trapped in the emotions of the battle, in the destruction wreaked by Discord  that he had done before we could subdue him. She wanted revenge, although needed just the opposite, which I, to my eternal shame, could not give her. There are times when I regard that day as the birth of Nightmare Moon.”

     ”I am not going to explain to you why we did not kill Discord that day, why I refused to do so, for there is a time more suitable for that. Instead I am going to tell you of why I sent you and Fluttershy to meet the wolf in the Forest of Shallows.”

 

They had stopped in the middle of the wall, facing the sun that was quietly disappearing behind the hills and forests on the horizont. In the tranquility of the moment it took awhile for Twilight to realize just what Celestia's last words had meant.

 

”Wh-, what?” Twilight asked, looking up her mentor, who looked back with deep purple eyes.

 

She was not smiling.

 

Celestia continued: ”Indeed, I knew of the wolf that would face you in those watery woods – I even knew the wild state she was in, of the ponies she had killed to feed her puppies. That is why I evacuated Damp Town as soon as I could, a day after I sent you the letter of Damp Town’s mayor along with my own.”

 

It was either the deep and soft voice or the deeper pools of purple, or perhaps the absolute certainty Twilight had that the creature standing in front of her really was Princess Celestia that kept her standing there on the wall. Without some or all of these factors, she might have sprinted away then and there.

 

Instead she made herself listen as Celestia’s voice carried on.

 

”I am pleased to see that the shock was not too much for you to bear – it is good to know that what I earlier said about the uniqueness of your nature was not an overstatement. It is needless to say, of course, that you are allowed to ask questions and even criticize my actions, although I would gladly have your undivided attention first.”

    ”Let us start from the beginning, or, to be more precise, from the beginning of a dream dreamt by our dear friend Fluttershy, a dream which for the first time brought Damp Town's peril to my attention. At this point I must state the importance and significance that the pony Fluttershy had in the affair of Damp Town, for without her and her unusual gift the outcome of all this might have been rather different.”

    ”A gift she indeed has, like you have surely known for some time, although the true depth of that talent had until now escaped even my attention, which most likely is because of Fluttershy's  timid and shy nature. Yet, with the support you and her other friends have given her, she has gradually let that gift shine more openly along with her self esteem. This ultimately lets her have an even more profound connection with that aspect of reality, which common ponies call nature.”

    ”What I mean to say, then, is that the gift of mist wandering, as our ancestors used to call it, has awoken in Fluttershy. Does that name ring any bells?”   

 

Indeed it did, although they seemed to be at a distance.

 

”I have heard about it, yes,” Twilight began carefully, ”but I thought it was only a myth?”

 

”Your thoughts are correct, although the assumption that myths can not be real is not. Indeed, there is power in nature as there is in magic, if these two can be separated in the first place. The true potential of Fluttershy still remains to be seen, yet the example we have witnessed does give us some kind of picture of things to come.”

    ”Nonetheless, the future is not our immediate concern here, whereas the story I have to tell you has more importance. As I was saying earlier, it was Fluttershy who got the first glimpse of the wolf living in the Forest of Shallows, although she did not at first understand her visions, mistaking them for dreams and nothing more, perhaps hoping that they were not. Had she been left alone with her thoughts, trying to solve the problem on her own, she would have most likely been deprived of her sanity.”

    ”For the fortune of us all, another pony shared the ”dreams” of Fluttershy even though she spoke of them to nopony. I'm quite confident of the fact that you realize already who that special pony is.”   

 

”It was Luna, right?” Twilight said almost immediately, to which Celestia only nodded. There was a problem, though, which Twilight pointed out.

 

”But how did Luna know of Fluttershy's anxiety when even her friends, even me, were not aware of it? And why did Fluttershy happen to dream of the wolf in the Shallows and not of anything else?”

 

”Your tendency to identify the essential questions remains flawless, I notice. It truly was no coincidence that let my sister reach into the mind of the pony Fluttershy and witness her peril. Rather, it could hardly have been any other way, for Luna, while she is very discreet about it, has the inclination to be drawn to those dreams of the ponies that eventually start resembling nightmares. She says that the darker the dream is, the stronger its pull will be, and Fluttershy's dream was something close to a whirlpool.”

    ”What comes to the question of why Fluttershy visioned the exact scene she did, nothing can be said for certain. Perhaps her gift operates like Luna's, perhaps she, too, is unconsciously drawn to the abnormal aspects of nature, to the death and horror in it, so that she could heal it. Whatever the answer to your question is, it can wait a more suitable time to be reckoned with.”

    ”Being the incarnation of Night itself, Luna knew at once that Fluttershy's dream was not a common dream at all, which prevented her from proceeding with her usual actions when dealing with common ponies’ nightmares. She could not simply become part of that dream and take control, could not just calm the frightened soul and show that the evil in the dream was nothing but imaginary. Acting like this would have resulted in unimaginable chaos in Fluttershy's mind, as Luna later described it.”

    ”Thus unable to act directly, Luna settled to observe, learn and inform. She came to me at once come the dawn and told me all she had seen. Even though she had seen quite a lot, I could not act fast enough based on the knowledge she passed on to me, for even though Luna's ability to see in dreams is second to none, key pieces of knowledge were left in darkness.”   

    ”She saw a pony die, Twilight. Not just die, but saw her being torn apart by a beast like none we thought even existed anymore in this land. I can see the fear in your eyes, a fear that rightfully belongs there, but take solace in this: Fluttershy never saw the worst of it. What she saw, we can never know for sure, but Luna assured me that Fluttershy’s ability to interpret her own visions is still rather crude. In Fact, Luna is having a talk with Fluttershy even as we speak, a talk much like the one we are having now. I sincerely encourage you two to share your thoughts afterwards.”

    ”Like I said, the scene Luna witnessed was unthinkable and demanded immediate action, yet we knew too little to even begin planning our strategy. Where had this tragedy happened? When did it take place? These things were not evident in the vision. Thus we were condemned to wait, until further knowledge would emerge.”

 

”But,” Twilight started, ”You could have done something, right? You could have sent word to every village and town in Equestria, to warn everypony of the wolf?”

 

The light of the blood-red sun flickered in Celestia's eyes, yet even the idea of a flinch wouldn’t disturb them.

 

”It grieves me to hear you imply that had there been anything to be done, in order to protect the ponies of this land, I would not have done so.” Celestia's voice was like satin against steel, enveloping Twilight in embrace of total embarrassment.

 

”I –, I, I didn’t mean that, Princess, I did not mean to offend... I only meant... that maybe you had... Had, uhm...”

 

”Forgotten something?” Finished Celestia, with only the satin lingering in her voice, supreme once again. Twilight couldn’t help but feel even more embarrassed.

 

”You are right, in fact: We could have acted as you proposed, thus igniting a bonfire of panic all over Equestria. A mass panic that would ultimately lead to more harm and grief than could ever be caused by a single wolf, no matter how ferocious. Your mistake is understandable, though, for your mind is at the moment shaken and upset, at the very least.”  

    ”And to return to my story, we waited for news of the death of the pony whose name we later learned to be Blue Fallow. We decided that, until we knew for certain where and when her demise had taken place, we would not talk about it to anypony, not even to Fluttershy, for what good would that have achieved but a collapse of one mind instead of many? On the contrary, Luna made sure that, should Fluttershy have another vision, she would be there to save her from the worst of it, in addition to gathering more information, of course.”

    ”Alas, no new visions came, for whatever reason, for more deaths there indeed were. A week after the death of Blue Fallow I received the letter from the mayor of Damp Town, the same you received later from me. The link between the visions and the disappearances was the only one that made any sense, so we proceeded by evacuating the village to here, to Canterlot, a day after I sent my instructions to you. It is even possible that you met the refugees during your journey to Damp Town.”

 

Twilight listened carefully, listened like she had listened for what felt like an eternity. Finally, despite the still lingering feeling of embarrassment caused by her doubt laid on Celestia, Twilight couldn’t listen anymore, couldn’t contain her need to know.

 

She needed to know why.

 

”Why did you n tell me about all this?” She blurted, and without drawing breath, went on:”You didn't tell me about the wolf even though you knew it was dangerous! You kept silent of the fact that ponies had died! I understand why Fluttershy was best kept in darkness, I would have probably done the same, but why me?! You said you trusted me, you said I was the best pupil you ever had! I could have handled it, I knew I would have, yet you did not even mention the evacuation you machinated! Why?! Why, why, why?!”           

 

Save the breathing of Twilight, the wind that beat the flags flapping on the wall they stood, save the echoes of ”why” in the courtyard, silence ruled the world. Silence like in which one could hear a tear falling beside another one, falling on cool stone on some wall, in some castle, in some other reality.

 

Princess Celestia heard those tears, heard them falling like the fragile things they were, and in the symphony they created she found herself thinking, first time for a long, long while, that perhaps she had gone too far this time. Somehow she seemed to be experiencing a déjà-vu, witnessing again the moment she could never forget, the instant when she gazed into her sister's eyes and did not know who was staring back. The moment she fought against her own flesh and blood, the moment when she fought against herself, the moment when nothing but horror remained.

 

She would not face that moment ever again.  

 

Without saying a word, Princess Celestia spread her magnificent wings around Twilight Sparkle, who fell back because of the surprise and the intimacy of the gesture. Rather than falling, though, she responded to the embrace of the alicorn, squeezing the Princess hard against herself.

 

She could only faintly hear Celestia saying the words: ”Forgive me”, before the sudden sleepiness caught up with her consciousness.

 

She woke up next morning in a feather bed, without the foggiest idea of how she had gotten there. Her confusion was soon replaced by a peerless sense of tranquility, as she realized that she was sharing the bed with none other than Fluttershy, who was fast asleep on her left flank. The expression on her face could have made melted solid stone, such was the force of the calm innocence radiating from it.

 

Twilight felt tears welling in her eyes, but this time she welcomed them, letting them fall on the snow white sheets as they pleased. She adjusted her position to match her friend's and stretched a hoof across her flank, feeling the soft skin warming to her touch. It made her feel happier than she could have imagined, cosier than she could have wished. Without realizing it, Twilight fell victim to that feeling that made her feel like a year old filly all over again.

 

She was never aware of the two alicorns who followed her every motion with keen interest. Truth be told, she couldn’t have had the foggiest idea of this, since they watched her via an enchanted mirror standing idly in corner of the bedchamber, showing nothing but reflection on the other side.

 

It was Luna who made the first comment.

 

”She seems to have recovered from the trauma rather well, or at least her subconsciousness bears no trace of it.”

 

Celestia said nothing, but only stared at the mirror revealing two ponies locked in each other's embrace. Luna was about to give another go for a conversation when Celestia spoke, with a voice somewhat lacking the feeling of soft velvet Luna was so used to – she almost sounded sad and, even more worryingly, old.

  

”I suppose you are certain that she remembers absolutely nothing of the events in the Forest of Shallows, nor of what happened afterwards.”

 

Even though Luna couldn’t quite hear the question mark at the end of that sentence, she nodded in response. She even told her how hard it had been, to tinker with memories like that.

 

”Although that was nothing,” she continued,”nothing but absolute child's play compared to the task of creating new memories replacing the lost ones. I dare say, there were few sorcerers in history that could have matched that achievement.”    

   

”I would not have given the task to you, had my evaluation of your skills been any less than that. Is the false memory a steady one?”

 

”Why, of course it is. We were somewhat lucky, in fact, for I found an alternative story in their own minds, just waiting to be nurtured into reality. Apparently there is some kind of a myth about some witch living in the Shallows, a myth these two thought for a while could explain the events of Damp Town. I simply made it so, added some pieces of my own and finally buried the witch in a close battle with Twilight and Fluttershy, naturally. That explains the strong emotional reaction Twilight had just now, if you were wondering about that.”

 

”You have done well, sister.” Celestia said, and turned away from the mirror, which at the exact moment returned into a common mirror and nothing more. She had not taken two steps away when Luna stopped her with a few selected words and an even more carefully selected tone.

 

”Is that it, then? A quiet thanks and farewell, the usual, is it? Do you not even care to know of the way they ended up here, in their memories?”

 

Celestia turned and smiled for the first time that morning, smiled a smile of understanding condescension, the smile Luna was beginning to loathe. Her voice had also regained it's usual character, she noticed.

 

”That will not be necessary, dear sister, as they will enlighten me of the details themselves. Were I to guess, though, it was by your gracious help that they came here after being exhausted by the battle to the point of unconsciousness. I'm sure you gave that part your best.”

 

Luna flinched, and at that instant regretted that she had. No more was needed to tell her elder that she had been as right as anypony could be.

 

”What comes to your help,” Celestia continued, ”it is appreciated more than I can ever in words express. Nonetheless it will be remembered, be confident about that. As it is, though, the day has come and the night has gone, the world has turned yet another page, and work needs to be done. We shall see again at dusk.”

 

Along with those final words, Celestia turned around and began the descent to the throne chamber,  from where the noise of the gathering crowd could already be heard. Luna lingered in the tower chamber, fighting against the feeling that it was always her, who was left behind when a conversation between the sisters ended.

  
  


                        ***

  
  


Later that day, when all the day's audiences had been dealt with, including the joyful encounter with Twilight and Fluttershy, Celestia occupied the throne room in unbroken silence. She was writing a paragraph for her Chronicle of the Sun, a heavy, large book which a simple minded individual might have mistaken for a diary, but which, combined with it's counterpart, the Chronicle of the Moon, formed the complete history of Equestria, dating over a millenium. It was not a complete history, of course it wasn't, for such a thing would not only have been impossible to create but would have served no meaning at all, either. Instead the Chronicle was a carefully selected and formulated composition of notes, stories and even speculations concerning meaningful events of Equestria, documented by the two sisters, although a big chunk of both books had been created by the hoof of only one of them.

 

Contrary to the usual, Celestia was having trouble with finding the words she felt were essential for immortalising the message on the white paper. She knew something needed to be said about the events of Damp Town, yet ”the how” of the matter was somehow lost to her.

 

Like it was lost to her after the day she had ostracized Luna.

 

It was from that thought she found the right words to begin writing.

 

On the Fourteenth Day of the Seventh Turning, year 1002

  
  


As I write these words down, I have again almost killed a loved one of mine, although this time I managed, with my sister's help, to salvage the situation from the worst of what could have happened. Needless to say, the re-telling of these events grieves me beyond words, yet that is the very reason I must put them on paper, so that they would never be forgotten. I also realize that this particular paragraph shall be among the ones that my successors will regard as the more cryptic accounts of my actions. To state that is to assume two things: First, that the eyes reading this Chronicle have really not yet understood the soul of the one who wrote it. Second, that I have really not found it necessary for them to understand her.  

 

It may even be you, Twilight Sparkle, who reads these words in search of an answer for a question I can not yet even anticipate. Perhaps you have tumbled on these pages by the curiosity that characterizes you so, or perhaps you harbor a sharper purpose in your mind. These things I can only guess at for my own amusement. In the case it really is you, Twilight Sparkle, who reads these words, know that you will find nothing but the Truth from them, even if this particular Truth seems unbelievable to you. I hope you can understand me better in the future than you could in the past.  

 

Regardless of who eventually reads these words, the truth must be told somewhere for its preservation to be guaranteed. The issue here connects with the affair of the wolf in Damp Town, which I have discussed in previous entries and from where they can be read, as I will not endeavour to repeat them here.

 

My focus is now on the aftermath of the incident that almost cost me my dearest pupil, Twilight Sparkle, in addition to a talented and special pony named Fluttershy. My purpose was nothing but to show these two individuals a more profound picture of the reality we live in, yet in the attempt I not only shattered that reality, but failed to build a new one in replacement. The only thing I could do, then, was to wipe clean the memories of the two ponies, to make sure they would not recall the events that nearly costed them their sanity.  

 

“How did it come to this?” you may ask. The question eludes me as well, for even though all my axioms seemed valid at the beginning of the experiment, the final conclusion was a failure in the deepest sense of the word.

 

You hear me speaking of “the experiment”, no doubt with a sinister association in mind by now. To explain I need to return back to the paragraph titled “the wolf in Damp Town”, to the part where I first learned via a dream of the pony Fluttershy of the threat lurking somewhere in Equestria. Like my reader surely recalls, it took us a week to connect Fluttershy's dream with the correct location and to take necessary action. In that paragraph I hardly hinted of what I did during that passing week. Did I simply wait idly, pretend that nothing was going on, or did I panic and withdraw into my own mind to fret over the tragedy?

 

No, for I came up with a plan.

 

I say I for even though Luna was fully aware of my intentions, she never really understood them, indeed never truly accepted them either. Despite the ages that we have shared, a rift separates us, a rift no amount of time can hope to bridge. But of that I have spoken elsewhere.

 

Simply said, the plan was about a deeper understanding of reality, to which I wished to consecrate these two selected ponies, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, although the aspects of the reality in question were quite different. Let us go through the aspect I wished the pony Fluttershy to see, first.  

 

Her gift of mist wandering really was not a surprise at all to me, although I gave Twilight the impression that it was. In fact I was expecting to see signs of it even earlier, considering the vast potential Fluttershy has storaged in this gift Equestria has not seen for centuries. It really is absurd to see such latent power in such a shy and harmless creature, although at the same time it comes as a great relief. After all, history knows cases where the gift of mist wandering achieved more than just harmless tea times with wildlife - they were the incidents that brought the term Witch to the pony folklore, printed it there with an unforgettable certainty.      

 

To enlighten the soul unaware of the term, a mist walker is a pony gifted with the ability to communicate with nature in means intangible to common ponies. The cause of the state is not purely magical but seems to share some primal link to the part of ponies’ history that exceeds even that of Equestria. Needless to say, it is because of it’s ancient roots that even my knowledge of the gift is limited, at least what comes to the mechanism that gives birth to it in some few ponies.

 

In ponies like Fluttershy, who truly is a marvelous example of a novice mist wanderer, that was plain to see even in her earliest years of life. Her parents came to me when she was just two years old, for they did not know how to react to the fact that their little filly preferred the company of the wildlife to that of her parents, even escaping from them from time to time, only to be found cuddling with a family of badgers. It really took great efforts to accustom the pony Fluttershy to the level of civilization she know is quite comfortable with. I thank the Ancients for that, since it would be somewhat difficult to keep an eye on her, were she living in the wild like she was meant to.    

 

I hope that the fact that I sent Fluttershy after the wolf in the first place, proves that my faith in her abilities was, and is, absolute. Had I wished simply to exterminate the Beast of the Shallows, I would have sent either Shining Armor or my sister to deal with it. Such answers do have the nasty way of becoming a habit, though. So I decided, rather than to simply end the process that had taken place in the Shallows, to reverse it instead, like I reversed the process called Discord some time ago. At the same time I wished to give the pony Fluttershy a glimpse of the depths her gift might take her into.  

 

I proved to be right, in this respect at least. As Luna told me, Fluttershy truly “tamed” the beast that had caused so much grief and in time I might even have found some use for this creature emancipated of its degeneration. Alas, it was not to be, which brings me to the other pony of the story which I am here telling. Should you still be reading this, Twilight, I recommend that you pay close attention to this particular section.

 

Why did I sent the pony Twilight Sparkle into harm’s way? Why did I refrain from informing her of the way things were in the Shallows? The answer is so simple and blatant it might disgust my reader, were they impetuous enough.

 

I wanted to know how Twilight would react in a situation where only bad options were available.     

 

I did this so I would learn something essential about my currently most promising student.

 

And finally, the reason why I needed to learn this “something” about the aforementioned pupil, was that I needed to know if she could someday be elevated among the ranks of the Divine.

 

This was the core of my reasoning and of my logic. Naturally, some deeper explanation might be in place and like always, I am more than willing to crystallize my inner thoughts, at least in this context.

 

Let us begin with my first goal, which was presenting Twilight with a situation she had never faced before. Three axioms were to be actualized for this to happen. Firstly, she needed to find herself completely alone, in an unknown environment, with no easy way to contact anypony else. Secondly, the enemy she was supposedly facing, needed to be unknown to her. That is to say, she needed to lack essential information about the problem she was facing. And thirdly, she needed to be under the impression that, were she to hesitate or act slow enough, lives of ponies would be endangered. As it happened, all these circumstances were actualized as I wished.

 

My second intention was then to learn some essential details about Twilight based on the way she would react under the circumstances stated above. It is worthwhile to mention that I used to be a believer of learning through discussion and dialogue, when I pursued to get to know “the Truth” about ponies’ personalities and character. I still use this “soft” way to evaluate my subjects, of course I do, but I have come to realize the built-in flaws that this kind of method has. The most important difference between the “soft” and the “hard” method, as it were, is that lying is so much easier by tongue than by hooves, which is to say that speech and language are innately harder to read than actions are. The exact reasons for why I think so are rather philosophical in nature, I’m afraid, which is why I have dedicated a whole chapter for them alone. One interested in such things may seek one’s fulfilment there.

 

Now that I have argued in favour of the method I used to know this “Truth” about Twilight, I am going to move to the actual knowledge that I wanted to learn from her. There was no single piece of information I wanted to know about her, but her actions in general were the object of my interest. And what did I find out? More than I wished to know, really, if such a thing is possible. That is to say, I was somewhat disappointed.

 

As my sister has described to me, Twilight, “at the first realization of the fact that she was completely alone, showcased a strong inclination to paranoia, panic and a loss of rational thinking.” That sums the report she gave to me quite nicely, I think.

 

It must be said that Twilight, in her panic, tried to panic in a way that was at least somewhat productive. Also it must be admitted that while her actions were somewhat loosely organized, she did end up finding Fluttershy rather quickly. The problem is that those were the only positive judgements I could make about my dear pupil, based on the report Luna gave me.

 

And finally, I come to the section where I reveal the ultimate goal of this “little experiment”, as Luna likes to call it. Like stated, the object of my inquiry was nothing less than to decide whether the pony Twilight Sparkle was ready to step among the ranks of the Divine, to take her place on my side as an alicorn.

 

Needless to say, she failed to prove herself worthy.

 

But I’m not such a fool as to throw away such a promising candidate based on one failed exam. After all, the test I put her into was easily the hardest she had faced so far. I am also inclined to admit that perhaps I went a tad too far in my search for Truth. On that point, I must note that I am the worst judge of myself, yet I find nopony worthy of really judging me, either. Some soul might regard that statement as uncalled for, an accusation against which I have no reason nor will to answer in any way imaginable.

 

For now, it suffices to say that while I have refrained from elevating Twilight Sparkle’s position to that of an alicorn, I have not given up this possibility. Contrary to that, I shall begin manufacturing another test as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

 

Meanwhile, I shall end this chapter by revealing the rest of the facts and misfortunes that are connected to the affair of Damp Town and to my interest in it. Two meaningful points remain to be acknowledged, the first being that the pony Fluttershy was completely aware of the wolf she would be facing in the Shallows even before she left Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle. She knew the complete story, in fact, knew that the village would be evacuated, knew that she would abandon Twilight during their first night and knew that they would meet again. What she did not know, and what came as a surprise to me also, was the theory Twilight had come up with in her panic and paranoia. This theory of the Witch really seemed to draw her in, for whatever reason. And the spell she used to decimate the wolfmother… I was not aware of the fact that she would be capable of such an achievement. This notion has awakened mixed feelings within me, and I must ponder it more.

 

But to return to my story, yes, it was me who ordered Fluttershy to abandon Twilight when an opportunity would present itself. It was no easy task for her, but she did it nonetheless, just like she lied and pretended to her friend from the moment Twilight came to her house with the letters. It actually surprised me how convincing her act was, this proving my previous point about the difference between talking and acting.

 

I could talk more about how I convinced Fluttershy to lie to her friend, how easy it was in the end (the hardest part was actually getting into contact with Fluttershy without anypony, not even Luna, knowing this) or how little regret I feel of my actions. But all in all, those were only the means to an end and nothing more, and while I do love to talk about my methodology in general, another topic awaits my attention. The topic being the question why I bid Luna to reconstruct the memories of the two ponies I have spoken of here.

 

There was no other reason but the one that I stated at the beginning of this chapter: That I had almost killed a loved one of mine, had almost lost her to the darkness within herself. That darkness, or the void, was created by the retreating faith and trust she had in me. As I told Twilight the truth about the affair in Damp Town, I could see the disbelief and confusion turning into rage and hate in her eyes. That was the moment, when I remembered the last time it had happened, and make no mistake, I will do anything to stop that from happening ever again. So I let the sleep take over Twilight's consciousness, let the mists fill the void before it could do irreversible damage to both of us. Naturally, I had to treat Fluttershy the same way, which might have been necessary regardless of what happened with Twilight - the fact that Fluttershy knew about having to lie to her friend, apparently overwhelmed the fact that she had obeyed the command of a god. Again, I’m not sure whether I should be glad or depressed about this state of affairs. Nonetheless, both ponies now carry false memories of the events of Damp Town and of the Forest of Shallows, the content of those memories being rather irrelevant.

 

I end this chapter with the wish that, if it is you reading this, Twilight Sparkle, your judgement on me is nothing but honest to yourself.       

 

Celestia detached her thoughts from the paragraph, studying the whole of it and how it resonated with what she felt. She wanted this particular entry to be as close to the reality as she saw it, so that her view in the events described wouldn’t later have to be guessed at. It was her duty as the ruler of this land to make her intentions as plane as possible, so that the history could later on be read unclouded by the mists of time. She also knew, deep inside herself, that this motive was only half of the truth, which she claimed to present as whole. In truth, she was preserving the history through her writing not only for the future generations, but for her future self also. From time to time she needed to remember who she was and this could only be achieved by knowing who she had been.

 

The paragraph she had just finished would suffice for now, although Celestia suspected that some of the phrasings would need a bit refining before she would cast a spell that would memorize the letters on the paper for ever. Before that there was yet another entry to finish, though.

 

It was a paragraph titled The History of Damp Town, the word glimmering in the light which cascaded from the coloured windows.

 

The entry was rather short, composing of only about fifteen pages, most of it covering the flood that had ravaged the region some 60 years ago. Celestia remembered the incident well, after all it had been by her counsel that the dam project was even started – it had been a useful architectonic experiment, even though the failure had been rather explicit. She idly wondered if the time was ripe for such a project again.

 

Her main focus, however, was on the question of what she would write about the more recent events that had eventually marked the end of Damp Town. The bulk of the villagers had been dead set against moving back to their homes after they had learned about the witch that had been the cause of their fellow ponies’ demise, even though Celestia had been quite clear about the point that the witch was no more. She had hardly lied, since in truth, the witch had never been. She had used the story Luna had found from Twilight's memories to explain the disappearances of the four damp towners, even though she knew the truth of it.   

 

She paid no heed to the fact that, technically, she had lied to a bunch of honest if somewhat simple ponies about a gravely serious issue, for she knew that she had given them the truth they would rather believe in. It was better for them, for everypony, that their friends’ deaths had meant something, that they had given their lives to help reveal the plot of an evil witch that had threatened the safety of whole Equestria. The story would give them comfort in their grief, unlike the other story about their lost kin filling some empty canine bellies.

 

Death was easier to accept when it had a meaning, even if it was a false one. Nopony knew that better than Princess Celestia.

 

Still, the Truth needed to be told somewhere, by somepony, since otherwise there wouldn’t be one. And without the Truth in there somewhere, meaning, even false meaning, meant nothing. With that in mind, Celestia began to write.

 

The hard part was to explain the circumstances which allowed a creature like The Wolf of Shallows, as Celestia called her, to exist in the first place. The only explanation she could come up with was the ”natural” evolution that preceded the birth of Equestria, although that seemed impossible. Not since the time of her Mother and Father had the mechanisms of nature gone on autonomously. No such ”evolution” had existed in Equestria since it had been created, no such thing but perfect harmony instead, maintained by the ponies of Earth, Sky and Magic. They were the ones that kept nature running, not the nature herself.

 

Unless...

 

The thought hit her suddenly, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. The idea that, perhaps there still was some silent current that ran deep in life itself, some primal urge that needed to be satisfied, some raw power which the Ancients had called ”instinct”. The ultimate will of the individual to survive, no matter the cost – perhaps that was impossible to remove from the essence of life. Perhaps all it needed was room to grow, to take control.

 

Room given something such as a flood that would isolate large sections of forestland out of any pony's touch.

 

Celestia tried to imagine the process.

 

A flood rages, cutting apart the landscape, scattering ponies, cattle and... Dogs. Dogs are plentiful in the countryside, everypony knew that. The dogs get separated from their masters, several of them. They find themselves surrounded by a river rising every minute. They panic and run away, never to return because of their fear, because they don't know the landscape anymore, because the river has surrounded them.

 

Weeks go by, but nopony comes to save the dogs because nopony knows where they are, because they have other things to worry about, because they think the dogs are dead. The dogs must be frightened to their bones. Weeks turn to months, fear turns to hunger, dogs turn to... Wolves.

 

They kill to survive, they kill to feed. Perhaps at first some cattle that got lost with them. It doesn't matter what they kill, for they have killed.

 

They form a new pack, to replace the one that abandoned them. There are fights, because dogs always fight with each other unless ponies forbid them. They fight for leadership, for control, for the juiciest bits of meat.

 

They fight for females. Or for males, depending on the mixture of sexes among them. No matter, for they are fighting. And breeding, no doubt.

 

How long could a pack like that survive? A year? Ten years? Surely not longer, they would have either starved by then or revealed themselves to the ponies of Damp Town. But no, they stayed hidden, for 60 years, generations following one another.

 

Could that be possible?

 

Celestia pondered the hypothesis for a while, yet could not come to neither deny nor confirm it. It had been a rather long time since she had been dealing with issues of “natural evolution”, as some ancient scholars called it, but what Celestia herself thought of as nothing more than natural degeneration. With the answer escaping her deductive thinking, she decided to seek help from the learnings of others. The castle’s library was vast and ought to include a book or two about the phenomenon she yearned to learn about in its collections. That would have to wait till another time, though, for even if she could not determine the validity of her theorem, the implications of it were grave enough to demand immediate action.

 

There might be more wolves lurking in the Shallows, more degenerated organisms living beyond the salvation of the Princess’s grace. At the very least the father of the puppies might still be around, probably driven quite insane by the loss of his pack. With any luck he would drown in the mires in his bloodlust, although such fortune could not be relied on.

 

At first light, she would send Shining Armor to Damp Town along with an escort to investigate. This would happen in secret, of course. Twilight might wish to linger with her brother, but Celestia doubted she would object her teacher’s explicit wish. At least Celestia thought that she wouldn’t, and in any case, she might come up with the idea of joining her brother, a prospect Celestia wasn’t too keen on. Shining Armor wouldn’t mind the order, that was for certain, for he was the very paradigm of a soldier. What was more, that would ensure his silence about anything that might be discovered from the Shallows.

 

With a final glance at the chapter just written, Celestia closed the Chronicle, although she cast no perpetuation spell on it. It was somewhat annoying, being unable to make an enclosure for such a seemingly harmless paragraph as The History of Damp Town. But it made no matter, for Celestia had come to know the value of patience.

 

As did Luna, it seemed. The younger alicorn had been waiting patiently near the main door of the throne room since the last of the day’s visitors had left, waiting for an audience from her sister. Celestia had been well aware of her presence the whole time she had been writing, yet the task she was occupied with was among the most important ones Celestia could do as a ruler of Equestria. So, she had simply continued with that. Judging from the way Luna had just stood there, without even coughing politely, meant that at least some of Celestia’s teachings had found suitable soil to grow in from her sister.

 

“I am glad to see that your reverence towards the virtue of patience is growing fast and well.” Celestia’s tone of voice never once erred anywhere near irony, not even during sentences which no other pony could have spoken without crossing that fine line. The observation wasn’t young anymore, and Luna was quietly becoming more confident about that Celestia actually didn’t know the meaning of the word “irony”, which, knowing her sense of humour, was actually completely plausible.

 

“And I am glad to see that you still do have time for your dear sister.” Luna, on the other hoof, was perfectly comfortable with her typical ironic undertone. She was even beginning to cherish it the more she talked with her sister. Her inclination to this behaviour was discouraged not in the slightest, since Celestia never seemed to warm to it.

 

“I suppose you have an errand that needs my council.” Celestia said after a moment of silence between the two sisters. Luna began walking towards the great throne were Celestia was seated before answering.

 

“I had almost forgotten to mention this one, peculiar object that I obtained from Twilight. As it happened, she never had the time to miss it before I… Renewed her memories, which then lacked the knowledge of this particular object.” Luna’s tone was casual enough, so that even a simpler  individual could tell that the object in question was something more than, say, a forgotten saddlebag.

 

“The suspension is killing me,” Celestia said in a voice that almost destroyed Luna’s well developed theory regarding her sister’s vocabulary. The quiet smile she received with the sentence only strengthened her new interpretation of her sister.

 

“The object I’m referring to is a certain book. One written by a certain individual named   

Hollow Bark, as absurd as a name that is. I assume you would like to take a peek at it?”

 

“Indeed, I would,” Celestia answered, the smile still undying on her lips. Luna obeyed and with a flick of her horn she had the book appear in front of Celestia, who picked it with a spell and opened the first page. She leafed the tome for a good while before speaking again, although still keeping her eyes on the pages.

 

“It comes to me as a great surprise that you would forget something like this, dear sister.”

 

“Oh, I thought about mentioning this earlier, but you seemed so upset about the failure of your little experiment that I chose to study the thing first by myself. I wished to see if there really was anything of interest. Sure, the book has some minor power, but so does everything, really.”

 

“And what exactly is your current evaluation of this book, then?” Celestia said, still keeping her eyes firmly in the book in front of her.

 

“Well, the text sure rambles a lot about those witches, but since that problem was taken care of centuries ago, I found little interest in it. The spells there are somewhat interesting, although I could not quite understand the meaning of them. Save some historical value, I’d say it is quite useless.”

 

Celestia kept silent for a good long while before speaking again, and when she did, the smile on her lips had almost turned into a grimace.

 

“This book,” she started, “is perhaps the most dangerous piece of writing ever created in Equestria. I can see the disbelief in your eyes, which does not surprise me. After all, you were somewhat… Preoccupied… When the events around this book took place, about 500 and thirty years ago. Please, allow me to enlighten you.”

“It all began from a tragic accident in which two fine unicorns met their end before their time. No living soul now knows what exactly happened, but apparently the two ponies were lost in the woods during a storm and were never seen again. My guess would be that they might have stumbled on a river bank. They were first searched after and then mourned, by all the ponies of their village and by my person, also.”

“The greatest tragedy, though, was that they left a foal behind. Now orphaned, the little unicorn colt was as lost as anypony could be, frightened of everything and especially of storms, which unfortunately were quite common on the area he lived. So I decided to intervene and take this young soul under my protection, to make sure he would grow up as healthy and strong as if his own parents had been there to tend to him.”

“Aspen Leaf, as he was named, quickly showcased a natural inclination toward the scholarly way of life, into which I was more than content to introduce him. Years went by and he grew up to be the loyal and clever student I wished him to be, although not as strong and healthy as I had hoped. He suffered from a shaking disease, for which no cure was known back then. The seizures took control of him whenever he was under great stress, which was most often during storms. His body always remained feeble, too, whereas his spirit grew almost too hot tempered. Simply too hot tempered, as it turned out.”

“In his thirties he started developing a strong paranoia revolving around witches, whom he deemed guilty of his parents’ demise. Already at a younger age he had shown a great interest toward stories about them, but only later in his life, at the peak of his scholarly aptitude, the real problems began.”

“He tried to collect all the knowledge there was about witches, writing hundreds of notes, essays and studies about them. He travelled all over Equestria in search of material for his work, which was the real reason I discovered the severity of his mental state as late as I did. During the last ten years or so he spent perhaps only a couple of months in Canterlot.”

“Finally, after a decade of study, he collected everything he knew about witches into this very tome, an achievement few scholars could have succeeded in.”

 

Celestia paused, as if waiting a detailing question from her sister, who was more than eager to comply.

 

“But how come the book is so dangerous, then?” Luna asked. “If it’s simply a collection of notes about a subject that has not been relevant for ages?”

 

Only now did Celestia raise her eyes from the book she held a good length away from her. Her stare made Luna flinch.

 

“Are you  aware of the name of this particular scholarly masterpiece?”

 

“I, uhm, no, as a matter of fact. Now that I think of, it strikes me as a bit weird, actually - to have a book with no name but only a twig in the cover.”

 

“As a matter of fact, it is no twig but a very old rune, created during the time before the Ancients. It has not been used since, except in this single book, on this single page.”

 

“What does it mean, then?” Luna asked, unable to stand the suspension.

 

“Witch-hunt.”

 

Upon hearing that word leave Celestia’s lips, Luna, for the first time, started to consider the possibility that she really did not know her sister that well.

 

“Aspen Leaf’s intention,” Celestia continued,” never was to simply study the witches, but to eradicate them, once and for all. Having finished his book, he began giving speeches. First only in the isolated and small settlements, where superstition grows strong and minds are more inclined towards charismatic speakers, and Aspen Leaf surely qualified for one, especially when he was talking about his favourite subject.”

    “He talked about, no, he preached, about all the evil the witches had done, always mentioning the fate of his own parents, about the peril the villagers here or there had experienced, supposedly because of witches. He really hated them, from the bottom of his very heart, although I always wanted to believe that his parents really were the ones he loathed so for abandoning him as a colt. Irrational, true, but emotions rarely follow the rules of formal logic.”

“Nonetheless, his hate, whatever its origin, carried fruit. A fruit dark as coal and bitter as ash. He began gathering followers, simpletons mostly, misguided ponies following somepony who seemed to know what he wanted and knew how to get it. Whatever I do to quench such behaviour in the good Equestrians, there always seems to be a way for them to follow their most simplistic incentives. But that takes us away from the end of the story.”

“When I heard the news of this cult spreading in the far corner of the land, I responded by travelling there myself, eager to resolve the conflict with reasoning and argumentation. Back then I used to think that such a thing could heal any wound, straighten any misunderstanding. I was quickly led to see the error of my ways.”

“They had set up trials. Witch trials. Somepony caught in the act of using the wrong herbs, some poor soul found wandering in the wrong part of the forest, some innocent mind praying to some other god than me. In the end, it did not matter what the guilty one had done, for they were guilty, ‘in the eyes ponies and Celestia herself’. Of all the things they could have done to evoke my disgust, using my name in their secret trials was the worst they could have ever imagined.”

“They did not execute anypony, if you were wondering. Aspen Leaf had not gone that far yet, or at least his followers had not. They ‘only’ shamed their victims, drove them into exile and cursed their names. I still thank the Mother that their sentences carried more symbolic than actual meaning.”

“When I found the leader of this cult which had already caused so much grief, I was shocked. I have not mentioned this yet, but I did not know then that the cult, of which I had heard so much, had been started by none other than one of my most clever pupils. He had been using pseudonyms, you see, names like “Greenleaf”, “Dearheart”, or “Greystone”. “Hollow Bark” was the one he used to write his masterpiece. Apparently, he had been scared to death of the witches  finding him out via his writings. That is also why he used such old fashioned runic writing.”

“Like I said, I was shocked to find out the truth about the cult, the Order of Guardians, as they called themselves. Contrary to my own reaction, Aspen Leaf was overexcited to meet me. He had hoped that I would come, to bless their trials with my presence, to help him judge the guilty and liberate the innocent. His insanity almost ruined me, too, for I could not accept that the scared young colt I had taken under my protection four decades ago had turned out to be the greatest blight of the century.”

 

Celestia fell silent again, waking Luna from the story and into the reality.        

  

“So, what happened to him, then?” She asked.

 

“After deeming him being beyond salvation, I sent him into a hospital where his shaking disease could be properly treated. His little minions, I woke up from the feverish dream they had lulled themselves into, and sent them to carry on with their lives.”

 

“And… That’s it?”

 

“Let us say that, while Aspen Leaf, until his dying days, never quite understood why he could not leave the premises of the Everdream Hospital ever again, his caretakers certainly did.”

 

And that was as far to that conversation as Celestia wanted to dive into, Luna decided, and changed the subject.

 

“I still do not understand this one thing: How did this book end up in some cellar in some remote village? That’s where Twilight found it, I found that out while I was… Rearranging her memories. She found it in a secret room under Damp Town’s Town Hall.”

 

“We can only make guesses about the true chain of events that finally led this book to that cellar,” Celestia continued, ”although I might have a plausible explanation. When the Order of Guardians was disbanded, I confiscated Aspen Leaf’s remaining writings and his dear book, to keep anypony else from reading them ever again. Some scriptures I let be, of course, for not all of his work on witches was so spoiled by paranoia.”

“Even back then, though, I suspected that Aspen Leaf had made copies of the book, for he regarded it as his best weapon in the war against witches and so went to extreme measures to ensure its survival. He never told me about the copies, although I asked of them. It might be that, in the end, he became paranoid even of me. I could have made him tell me, of course, but at that point I was far too tired of the whole affair and wanted only to forget it, a mistake that now has caught up with me.”

“I suspect that some of Aspen Leaf’s followers, the most loyal of them, were in possession of a few copies. Perhaps they revered them as holy symbols of their cult or maybe they were only intrigued by the fine carvings and their illuminating light, it makes no matter. It is possible that the books became family heirlooms, or at least one of them did, and perhaps that book was taken along by the descendants of the faithful cultist, when they moved to some other location. This might have continued for centuries until nopony really knew much about the book apart from that it had been in the family for ever and that it was important, somehow. And so somepony built a secret room or made sure one was built, and left the book there.”

 

“That is a reasonable explanation, indeed,” Luna said, for nothing else seemed possible to say. Celestia seemed to agree, for she said:

 

“The day is nearly spent, which means that it is again your turn to watch over Equestria, dear sister. I wish you a peaceful night.” With that, Celestia rose from the throne and began descending the stairs. Luna had one more question for her, though.

 

“And what shall you do with that copy of the book, then?”

 

“It shall find a place alongside its original in the vault. We shall never speak of it again.”

 

Well, that was quite frank, thought Luna, while she watched Celestia close the doors of the throne room behind her.

  
  


***

  
  


Celestia, after a final glance at the book named Witch-hunt, put it on a shelf and turned away, never once looking back, before sealing the vault’s massive doors. Her steps echoed softly from the walls as she made her way towards her bedchamber.

 

When she arrived, she was welcomed by the sight of one his guards struggling to keep balance while a litter of puppies were biting his legs and hanging from his side. Celestia could see the scars running red all over him, the poor thing.

 

“That is all I require of you today, Keen Hoof. I can not say how much I appreciate your willingness to take care of the puppies while I was gone.”

 

Upon noticing the presence of his regal lady, Keen Hoof immediately saluted, sending a puppy that had been hanging on his right hoof flying across the room. It landed on the royal bed and was on its feet before Celestia could even laugh.

 

“It was a pleasure, Princess.” Keen Hoof said. It really did take a special kind of character to say that with a straight face.

 

After the guard had gone, the puppies gathered around their basket, staring intently at Celestia, who was staring intently at them. One of them, the biggest, it seemed, approached her carefully, while the others observed how this strange, tall, white creature would treat them. Was it an enemy or a friend? Did it want to play like the previous hoofed creature? Did it taste good? The puppies didn't know, so they waited.

 

Celestia kneeled and brushed her nose with the little puppy that had come closest. It responded with wagging its tail.

 

After that, the pups did everything Celestia wanted them to.

 

Later, when the pups were sleeping on a pile in their basket, Celestia thought about everything that had happened during the past few weeks. She let all the random facts just float in her mind, touching nothing and meaning everything.

 

She thought about what her Parents would have thought about her.

 

She thought about what Luna really was thinking about her.

 

She thought what the pups would do if they knew that their mother had been killed by a spell that was originally meant to tell if a pony was a witch or not. According to Aspen Leaf’s study, a witch's body reacted more strongly to temperature variance, this being the consequence of the fact that a witch had more water in them than a common pony.  

 

So, Aspen Leaf, in his twisted ingenuity, had invented a spell that heated up water in living things. “Clean and simple”, as he had described it.

 

The problem was, the spell was a tad too strong to work as a reliable indicator.

 

Instead of slightly raising the water temperature of the subject’s body, it made it boil to the point where it exploded. Celestia was no expert on the matter, but she had the notion that it took quite a bit of heat to make water explode. Well, not explode as such, for water could not explode. It would just, for a moment, boil violently enough to make organic tissue around it experience some radical changes.

 

Truly, an insane genius par excellence.

 

Celestia heard one of the pups whining on the side of her bed. Maybe it had had a nightmare and sought the protection of its mother or the nearest equivalent of one. Celestia didn’t know whether dogs had nightmares or not and neither did she care. Instead, she picked the puppy up and let it fall asleep next to her.

   

It made her feel inexplicably happy.

 

 

 

       

  
  
  
  


 

  
  
  



End file.
